


Lunar Space Station

by imperialMachine



Category: Solar Opposites
Genre: Accidents, Angst, Aphrodisiacs, Character Death, Korvo is a single dad, M/M, Neglect, Romance, Smut, Space Stations, made up characters - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:21:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28204512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imperialMachine/pseuds/imperialMachine
Summary: AU where Vanbo is Terry's evacuation partner and because of their incompetence, they crash their ship into the lunar space station, where Korvo works as a ship repair man.
Relationships: Korvo/Terry (Solar Opposites), Terri/Terry (Solar Opposites)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

Everything that ever happened has led him up to this very moment, and he ruined it by taking too long. He was too late. 

The blaring alarm of the clocktower was crying as the meteor drew near. Vanbo took his sweet time gathering all of the materialistic things to focus on his replicant. Terry's replicant was supposed to be blooming today but the meteor beat the little seedling to arrival. He couldn't just leave the poor thing behind. He needed to go after it. 

The tower's countdown began to sound altered as the meteor was just entering Shlorp's atmosphere, turning the sky into a bright red. Vanbo grabbed on to Terry's wrist before he could run off to retrieve the replicant. "What are you doing? We have to leave now!" Vanbo yelled through the loud concoction of noises, ranging from the alarm, the countdown, the meteor's cry, and the screaming citizens. 

Before Terry could explain his reason for leaving, Vanbo pulled him into the ship and strapped him down. "My replicant!" Terry tried to unbuckle himself but Vanbo already closed the doors to the ship and they were taken into liftoff. His body snapped back into the seat as they flew out of the planet's atmosphere.

Their ship made a close call as the meteor blew up the planet, but it was far away enough to escape the bits of Shlorp flying in their direction. Terry teared up as he looked through the rear windows to see his planet in pieces and his replicant caught in this catastrophe. There was something shiny in the far distance that, by the time Terry had processed what it was, the piece of the planet struck the back of the ship, launching it into a straight line, straight into the Shlorpian Lunar Space Station. 

The green alien screamed as Vanbo told him to 'shut the fuck up'. The emergency lights flickered red as the sound of Aisha telling them they're about to crash. The parachute compartment was busted because of the rock lodged into it. They crash landed into the station as the million pieces of glass and metal flew around into the compartment that was the ship. 

Noise. There was so much noise, a murmur of voices that sounded distraught, as if these people had seen a dead body. Terry was always afraid of death, which was why he would often procrastinate when it came to getting ready for evacuation. He knew that somehow, in some way, he would die alone in space with an asshole for a partner. Then at the last second, he realized that staying and procrastinating on Shlorp meant he would die faster than being on the ship. He originally planned to stay, but when that alarm went off, he wanted to run. 

There are a lot of things Terry regrets. The first was neglecting his replicant and never bothered to check up on it. The second was never telling Terri that he was leaving. They were supposed to go on a last-day-to-be-alive date, but he never showed up. He didn't want to think about her dying on Shlorp, alone and lied to. He wanted to believe that she was still waiting for him with a yellow sun fruit smoothie in her hand and her perfect smile.

His eyes peek open as he sees a person pulling him out of the wreckage. "He's still alive." The guy said.

Whoever this was, Terry had to thank him later. The rapid drainage of his blood causes him to pass out again, and the voices of the savior begin to blend with the sounds of nothingness. Maybe he could sleep for a while and forget about this.

The air of Shlorp was fresh and moist, much like mornings during the equinox. Terry hadn't realized he was staring at the sky underneath the giant pink umbrella shielding him from the cruel sun. "Terry?" He snapped back into reality and towards his lifemate, Terri. 

"Yeah?" He says.

"Are you having a staring contest with the sky or something?" She smiled playfully and held her cup with the tips of her fingers. 

Terry observed his surroundings and realized he was on Shlorp, the planet that was supposed to blow up today. He quickly grabbed onto Terri's hand. "We have to go!" He says, pulling her off of the seat and into the sun. Their skin burned as they raced through the streets. Terry inputs the code to his stationed base in the elevator but the code was invalid. He does it again but was met with the same beep of the incorrect code. 

Terri scratched her arm, feeling her skin begin to wither under the heat of the solar rays. "Terry, the sun." She utters in pain.

He turns to see her skin discoloration from the burn. Terry pulled her under a tree next to the building. "I'm sorry. I don't know why the code didn't work, but don't worry I'll save you." 

Her skin began to heal itself from the coolness of the shade. "Save me from what? You're so silly sometimes." She giggled. Even at the face of death, she was still able to smile at him like that.

"There's a meteor that's coming towards us and-and I could save us- if the goddamn door would just open!" 

"Hey, relax, okay?" She wrapped her arms around him. "Now, what's this about a meteor?" 

Terry held her at arms length, and found ignorance in her eyes. "The one that Shlorp's been preparing for since…" Where was the meteor? He squinted up at the clocktower that no longer had a countdown and only showed the time of day. "I don't understand."

"Why did you take me to a storage unit?" Terri caught Terry's attention. A storage unit? No, this was supposed to be the station. He wondered if the whole meteor thing was one big messed up dream and there was no evacuation to begin with. "We usually break in at night, but if you're feeling rebellious-"

Terry kissed her before she could finish her sentence. She quickly pulled away with her face flushed a deep purple. 

"Terry, we're not supposed to do that in public." She was right. Public display of affection was essentially a lawless crime. Instead of being fined or jailed, passerbys would give dirty looks and rumors would spread among the community. The closest thing to displaying affection in public would be a flirty glance or a slow batting of the eyes. But Terry didn't care. He was happy that his lifemate wasn't a plant ghost and he didn't lie to her before her death. 

"I love you." He speaks with his heart. "I should've just told you."

The smile still lingered on her lips. "What are you talking about?"

"I had this realistic dream where Shlorp was going to be destroyed by a meteor and I never told you that I was chosen to leave. We couldn't go together, and I was planning to stay here with you but at the last second, I left." He huffed, tears welling in his eyes as he dropped to his knees. "I left my replicant behind. I left _you_ behind." 

Terri kneels down with him and planted kisses on his cheek, where the sweet tears seeped from his eyes. She shooshed him softly and stroked his face as he cried. "It's okay. There's no meteor." 

After his shameful blubber, Terri took him to the botany center. They would often do that when they went on their dates because Terri couldn't make replicants. She was a weak replicant herself and her line was to die with her, but it didn't stop her from trying. "What are we doing here?" He asked, a lovestruck grin played on his face, watching as his love lit up from seeing the other budding seedlings poke from the soil.

"To see our replicant, of course." She says, holding his hand and pulling to where their replicant would be. 

Terry practically floated behind, being pulled by her soft pinkish hand. He wondered what it would be like to have replicants with her- not even replicants- children, he wanted children with her. What a fantasy it would be to have both him and her as a single being, produced by love and- wait. They couldn't reproduce sexually. 

This was one of their fights, not the small ones where they would bicker then apologize afterwards. This was a topic of their big fights, when they would raise their voices at each other and occasionally throw things because they couldn't make an agreement. Terri wanted a replicant. She didn't want an offspring with Terry. And for the most part, it made her feel hopeless. 

Terry's hand slipped from her fingers and she stopped to look back at him. "You're not real." His voice breaks like his heart.

She reaches for him and he flinches away, realizing that she actually is dead. He looks up to see that Terri is gone and it's dark. 

The voice echoed from seemingly nowhere, "we're losing him." 

Then there was nothing. Terry imagined the sound of a flatline coming from those heart monitors he never paid attention to in Med class. He couldn't have been dead because he was still thinking. Maybe it's his soul and he really was dead. If so, where was Terri? Could her soul have been destroyed on the planet? He hoped that wasn't the case.

Then his eyes crack open as he spots the ceiling light of a medical room. The wonkiness of his vision made it hard to see. Was he upside down or right side up? He couldn't tell. He moved his head up to see what was going on. Muted voices of the medical team grew louder as they discussed the huge hole in the space station and about Terry. One of them looked in his direction and uttered. "He's awake." 

Terry held his head as the nurse helped him sit up. "What happened?" He asked. 

"Your ship crashed into our base." Said a lime green Shlorpian. 

He blinked a few times, clearing his vision as the colored aliens began to have features, instead of just being blobs of colors. Ship. Crashing. The ship! "Oh, my god. T-he ship! Vanbo-" Terry scrambled to stand but the doctor held him by the shoulders to calm him down. 

"It's okay. Everything will be fine." The doctor looked him in the eyes, but Terry could see a hint of sorrow in them. "There's no easy way to say this-" It always starts off like that. The botanists would start off the sentences like that before giving Terry the bad news, like when all one hundred and ninety-seven of his replicants died due to bad luck. That's what they told him, bad luck, but he knew better. It was his fault. "Your partner died on impact." 

A breath escaped his lips. He didn't know whether to cry or laugh. He hated Vanbo, but without his electrical engineer he's nothing more than a sitting duck, waiting to be eaten alive by either his own body due to lack of solar rays or the capricious environment of space.

"Your ship, however, is in better shape than we thought. We're having a team fix it up for you." 

Great. Terry doesn't know how to fly his own ship. Regardless of that fact, he smiles anyways and thanks them for helping. 

The kind folks of the space station showed him to the room where he would be staying in for the time being. It was lofty and too elegant for Terry's tastes. If he would've known that working in a space station would be this luxurious, then he would've signed himself up. Terry makes his way into the ablution chamber. His skin was drying up from the bleeding and the lamp the nurses put over him to perform surgery. 

The image of himself in the mirror looked off, like he wasn't really there, like he died when they crashed into the station. No, this was deeper than that. Terry died when he decided to leave. He died when he lied to Terri. Terry died on Shlorp. 

He examines the gash in his abdomen and on his arm. A huge chunk of glass went through his stomach and another sliced his arm off. He didn't notice his arm missing, as it was a common injury on the planet, like a slice of the finger or even a missing leg. This was no problem as long as the nutrients get to the wound in time before infection. Once infected, a shlorpian was as good as dead. 

Terry stood under the water as the sound of the pitter patter against the glass doors kept him company. He should've stayed on Shlorp. He should've died with Terri and his replicant. What is he doing? Why did he run? He's not smart enough to do this alone. Once the ship is repaired, he'd have to leave into space alone and find a planet. He knows nothing about the ship or even about the pupa. 

The Pupa! He completely forgot about it! Terry closed the water in the shower and slipped into some new robes and headed for the lower levels. He followed the signs that directed him into the ship management area. Luckily, this place was put here to send cargo ships to collect resources from other nearby planets, otherwise Terry would've been a dead man.

There he found his ship, broken and bent, deformed by contretemp. Oh, how the world has been unkind. 

"Yumyulack," Terry moved his head towards the direction of the voice. It was the repairman underneath the ship. "Could you hand me the hyper torch?" 

He stuck his hand out from under the cruiser. Terry looked around to see that there was no 'Yumyulack' so he went over to grab the hyper torch and handed it to the repair guy. 

He mumbled a 'thanks' and went to work, oblivious to Terry's presence. Terry touched the scarred metal and walked along the ship, grazing his fingers on the wounds. His ticket to space was now in shambles.

From the corner of his eye, Korvo sees the unfamiliar shoes of a stranger, one with a pink teardrop gem, instead of a diamond one like his own. He pushed himself from under the ship's deck, sat up and met eyes with the green shlorpian, the one that he saved. 

"Hi." Terry was the first to speak. He gave a small wave and a sheepish smile.

Korvo was speechless. He was sure that the guy was going to die when he pulled him out of the wreckage. The large shards of glass fucked him, even killed the pilot. One would assume that he was also a dead man. It was a shame though, given his now unlikely opportunity to steal the ship since the rightful owner was alive and almost well. It made him uneasy thinking of wanting to commit theft from a dead man who's no longer dead.

"Sorry, I saw you needed help so I-" 

"Yeah- no- that's fine." Korvo says, getting up. Terry noticed the traces of black oil on his clothing and some on his face. Korvo wiped the oil from his hands on a rag and held it out for a handshake, because that's how a good introduction starts, with oil covered hands. "I'm Korvo, your ship repairman." 

He takes the dirty hand. "Terry." He pulled back after making eye contact for too long. "Did you happen to find a pupa in there?" 

"Yeah, I sent it down to the lab." Another long moment of silence afterwards. Terry wanted to compliment the man to show gratitude, but figured it was a bad time for that since Korvo was busy getting his hands dirty. His eyes loomed over to the dirty hands. He averts them.

"Great, thanks." Terry says, quickly heading for the door before Korvo sees his face turn into a shade of blue. Pretty hands always did attract him.

Again he follows the signs to the lab and finds the other pupa specialist caring for the super computer. The last time Terry saw the thing, it was asleep. Now it's awake and cooing at the specialists. The pupa spots Terry and reaches for him, whining as it did so, like he was its parent. The rest of the specialists turned their head to see Terry by the door. The one who was holding it gave him the pupa to hold. It was cooing at him and touching his face. He thanked them and left the room. He didn't want them to see him breakdown.

Terry stares at the pupa in his arms— squishy, Pantone 101C that kinda looks like a large jelly-like booger— only thinking about how much it reminded him of home, but it was gone now. He held the little yellow machine and cried into its body. The pupa absorbed the tears and patted Terry's head, still cooing and giggling. The only thing he has left is this pupa and it's not even a real being. 

* * *

_Ship repair was going to take at least a few months,_ that's what, Korvo, the repair guy, told him. What was Terry going to do for that few months? The mission was already a failure and it's not getting any better now that Vanbo was scheduled to be cremated. Since there were no birds around to eat his plant-corpse, they have to resort to the other tradition of funerals, cremation along with the person's items. Fortunately, Vanbo packed a shitton of things with him, which gave Terry time to clear out the ship and take whatever was useful to him. 

The good news about this was that Korvo was keeping him company. He wasn't there to help him. He was there to fix the insides of the ship.

Terry rummaged through the scattered boxes of Vanbo's belongings and searched for things to burn and things to keep. Most of them were left to burn because he found them to be useless and personal to Vanbo. In one of the boxes has a necklace locket with a picture of a blue shlorpian inside. A possible lifemate, or he had an obsession with someone and this was his way to remembrance. Who knows? Who cares. 

Some of the things got completely destroyed, like his many crystalized speakers and his cartilage detectors. Weird. Terry didn't know Vanbo had an interest in paleontology. There were findings of bones and fossils of creatures that may have been mammalian, but those were things Terry didn't care about.

There was a box that was labeled _Fragile_. The ship had probably destroyed the fragile things by now. Terry opened them to find bones, perfectly dusted animal bones. Terry quickly closed the box and pushed it aside. These are things Vanbo will definitely miss. They're burning with him, if they could burn. 

"Hey, uh Terry?" Korvo called from under the control panels, "Could you get me the wire clippers from the red toolbox?" 

"Sure." He says. Red toolbox. Where was it? He spots it outside of the ship. Terry slipped out and returned with the clips and handed them to Korvo. 

Just when Korvo clipped the wires, the door to the ship closed and activated the emergency lockdown protocol. "Great." Korvo mumbled curses to himself as he slid out from under the desk. 

"What happened?" Terry followed Korvo to the control panel. 

Korvo pressed a series of buttons that got the alarm to shut off. "The circuitry is damaged and I need to recalibrate them, but it'll take like three hours maybe." He says.

"So we're trapped here." Terry finishes.

"Yeah. Sorry." Korvo says. "For now, we're just gonna have to wait here. I heard your partner is getting cremated." 

"Heh, yeah." He says. "I haven't even known him for that long. So it's not like I'm losing someone important, except for the fact that he was the ship's operator." 

Korvo chuckles. "Evacuation was supposed to be 15 minutes before the meteor hit the atmosphere and everyone was scheduled to leave before then. Why did it take you and your partner so long? If you don't mind me asking."

Terry rubbed the back of his neck. "It's a long story." It'll kill the three hours being trapped in this tin can. "Okay, so. Don't tell anyone this, but I was planning to stay on Shlorp with my lifemate. At the last second, I felt scared to die so I left with my partner instead. My replicant was scheduled to pop out of the ground and I didn't have enough time to get it. My partner practically threw me into the ship and we cruised away, but we were caught in the debris and now I'm here." 

"I'm sorry that happened to you." Korvo's eyes were soft. There was pity in them.

"Don't worry about it. Shit happens." He shrugged it away. This was actually killing him to speak or to think about, his failure as a person for being indecisive, which got his replicant killed and his partner. He wondered if things would've been different if he was just honest and told Terri and leave.

"It must've been tough, leaving your lifemate and your replicant." There was a hint of woe in his tone and in his face.

He couldn't help but ask, figured Korvo had something to share with him, which would be perfect to avoid talking about his fuck up. "What about you? Do you have a lifemate or replicants?"

"I had a lifemate, but that ended a long time ago. And since we're spilling secrets and the government is gone, I had a replicant in secret." Enticing. Someone with a secret as well. Korvo was becoming more interesting to him as he leaned in while speaking. "I applied for evacuation but I didn't qualify because my genes were weak and I couldn't produce a replicant that could stay alive long enough on its own. You know the botanists aren't great at caring for seedlings, so I made one in my apartment with soil and nutrients I stole from the lab."

"Wait, your replicant is undocumented?" Terry whispered as if they'd be heard by their leaders and be sentenced for this crime. 

Korvo nodded.

"Holy shit." He thought about Terri. If what Korvo was saying was true then Terri could've had a replicant and its ephemeral life wasn't her fault. "What happened to it?" 

"He's working here with me. I haven't left him out of my sight since he came out of the dirt. I had to put him under a dead replicator's name because if they ever found out that he's mine, we'll both be dead." Korvo explained. 

"But he looks like you though. Wouldn't they know?" Terry asked. 

"He's… off-colored, so I picked someone who was the same color as him." Korvo says nonchalantly. Terry thought that he was bad when he would break into buildings during the night with Terri and occasionally make love in those buildings. But Korvo takes the cake for commiting crime. He wondered what that must be like, having to hide the fact that you have a replicant from everyone and pretending to be strangers. He wondered what his replicant must've thought about all this, living a lie. 

"So, what brought you to the station?" Terry couldn't help asking. 

"For starters, to get away from the law, just in case the government ever found out. It was our only chance of survival." Korvo says. "If it was just me on Shlorp, I would've been fine with dying. But it wasn't, not anymore. I had to think about Yumyulack too. When the opportunity came up, I took it and brought him along." 

Inspired was the word that Terry felt. He wondered if he would've done the same with his replicant. Terry never had to think about someone else other than himself, and Terri occasionally. Is that what it's like to be a parent? Sacrifice. He's done everything else but sacrifice. This conversation wasn't doing him justice as he started to feel bad for himself. It wasn't pity. It was guilt. 

Korvo noticed from the front window that Yumyulack had shown up to help. He knocked on the window to get Yumyulack's attention. He didn't want Yumyulack to touch the ship because it was still in emergency mode and the electrical shield was activated. 

"That's your replicant?" Terry says, looking out the window to see the shorter pale blue version of Korvo.

"Yeah." He says. He wanted to use the speaker of the ship to tell Yumylack to stay away but it could risk recalibration. He knocked on the window again to gain Yumyulack's attention, who just stares at the window at him. He made a gesture to not touch the ship and his replicant just shrugs. "Dammit." 

"I don't know what you mean." He yelled. "I thought you needed my help." 

Korvo shook his head. "Go away." He says hoping that Yumyulack could at least read lips. 

"No way?" Yumyulack incorrectly repeated. "What?" 

Korvo just made the sweeping motion with his hand to make him go away and it worked. Yumyulack just made a hand motion as if he dropped all of his patience and walked out of the door. "God, that kid sometimes." Korvo muttered. 

"Hey, since we're here, wanna help me clean up the place a bit?" Terry really didn't want to clean this place up alone. If he was going to be scarred by Vanbo's belongings he might as well bring someone with him too. 

It was in the job description to be polite to any passerby, Korvo had no choice but to say yes. "Sure." 

The first place they cleaned was the main deck. There were still glass shards on the ground even in the small crevices of the ship. Korvo could tell the cleaning guy didn't do a great job if there were still glass crunching under the soles of his shoes. That might be a problem later. If the glass gets too lodged into the wedges of the floor boards then it could get sucked into something and mess up the ship. 

Terry examined the space suits. They were torn and filled with glass. He needed to get those replaced. Once everything was moderately cleaned and the boxes were organized from things to keep and things to burn, they moved to the second floor of the ship. This one was directly below the main deck. 

Although most of this room was almost perfect, there was a huge dent where the front of the ship is. Terry checked to see if the ray guns were okay and they were, except for the Smart Ray. It shattered into pieces the moment he opened the cabinet door. 

They moved into another section of the building to find the sample plants outside of their case and mixed with shards of glass. Korvo went over to the flora to save it from getting cut by the shards. One particular plant that was caught in the mix was the Aphrodite Flower. Korvo reached for it, but Terry quickly went over and kicked the small pot away.

"Terry! What the hell are you doing!" Korvo screamed, grabbing into his hand from being kicked by him. 

"What are _you_ doing?" Terry screamed back. "Don't you know what that is?" 

They both looked at the plant laying on the floor. Korvo examined the colored petals and patterns. "Aphrodite." He utters. The Aphrodite Flower is a strong aphrodisiac, commonly used for people who can't get aroused. It's mostly for old people or for people who have problems with sexual activity. 

"Man, I didn't think Vanbo, of all people, needed that." Terry says. "That's fucking hilarious!" He howled, laughing until his sides hurt and tears were forming in his eyes. The laughter died down and there was a sweet aroma in the air, similar to vanilla. "What's that smell?" 

The thing about this plant was that it's so strong that even a pierce of the flora's flesh could affect anyone around the vicinity. Once the aroma enters the body, it enters the brain almost instantly. When exposed for too long, the person could grow an addiction to this herb. 

Korvo gasped when he realized the stem of the flower was cut by a shard. He grabs Terry's hand and raced out of the room and locked it. Terry coughed as the magic pixie dust of lust escapes his mouth in a pink mist. "Fuck." 

"This is bad." Korvo says as he begins to smell the vanilla fragrance. "St-stay away from me." 

"Fine by me." Terry backs away as he runs into the replicant room.

Korvo went across the room and into the adult's room. His body grew increasingly warm as his face matched his temperature, turning his skin into a deeper shade of blue. Out of all the days to get in a situation like this, it had to be on the day of a guest's funeral. How embarrassing! He undoes a button to air out the sweat that was forming. Going over to the mirror, he saw that the small sweat balls are pink. 

He's never taken an aphrodisiac before, therefore he doesn't know how long this would last or what it would do to him, besides make him extremely shameless in the sex department. He wasn't a bio guy. He was a tech guy. This was far from the common knowledge he's used to. He paced around the room, fanning himself with his hand as the room grew increasingly hot. Korvo wondered how Terry was holding up. 

Terry sat on the floor, trying to not move. Any movement would make the ache in his loins greater. _Damn you, Vanbo,_ Terry thought, _you're so lucky you're dead because I would've killed you myself!_ His hand roamed down to his crotch as he palmed at it, gasping from his own touches and feeling the hardness under the fabric. He let out a shaky breath, bringing his hand down and grasp the stiffness firmly. It ached painfully that simply touching it like this wasn't enough.

Before he knew it, his whole hand was down his trousers, teasing lightly because it hurt to be needy with it. The sound squelches from his wetness down below as he worked on his sex. A bite to his bottom lip was enough to suppress the moans. Terry rested his head against the door, practically out of breath as he wondered what Korvo was doing.

Korvo sat on what he thinks is Terry's bed with his knees to his chest and his face buried in his bones. The pain in his crotch was too unbearable to ignore. It was wrong to relieve himself in Terry's bed of all places. He barely knows the guy. But if Korvo was being honest, he did take a few glances in his direction. He groaned, touching his chin as he thought of what to do. His fingers slowly moved towards his lips, feeling the softness of them and wanting to press them against another pair of soft lips, then he slid two of his digits in his mouth, tasting the various metals he had touched before. His skin graced his teeth a bit. If only he could touch Terry.

The other hand found its way into Korvo's pants, rubbing, tugging, fingering. He licked his lips as he outlined his finger around his hole, feeling the muscles pulse and twitch from his teasing and prodding. A hum escaped his lips as the taste on his fingers was no longer metallic but was replaced with sweetness and honey.

A sudden knock on the door startled him as he slipped his hand out of his orifices. He cleared his throat. "Yeah?" Panic in his voice.

"I- uh, wanted to see if you're okay." Terry's voice cracked as he rests his head against the cold metal, unable to ignore the urges anymore. He relieved himself about two times in the span of ten minutes and he still isn't satisfied. It was still throbbing and drooling down his inner thighs, Terry needed more. He didn't care about how needy he had to be or, if it came to it, begging for Korvo to sleep with him. He needed _relief_.

The blue alien got up to the door, holding his arm. Standing made his arousal very noticable in his pants. "I'm fine. You should really go back into the other room." It wasn't a suggestion. He was begging. If Terry didn't go back into the other room, he would be tempted to swing the door and have his way with him— or rather, have Terry have his way with _him_.

"Yeah." Terry says, not moving an inch from the door as he tried to control his breathing. Korvo was right, he should be in the other room away from him and this will all blow over soon. They can get back to normal lives with no horny flower coercing them, making them think they want the other. 

It's just a flower. That's really good at temptation.

They both opened the door at the same time, seeing the others surprised, flushed faces. Without thinking, Terry steps through the door and forces a kiss onto Korvo's lips, pulling his waist in towards him. He reciprocated with the same eagerness as he pulled the robe off of Terry's body. They fell to the floor, not caring about making it to the bed. Bodies immediately gravitated towards each other like black holes and neutron stars, unable to escape the pull. 

The green shlorpian was in between Korvo's thighs, feeling him grind against him as their stiffness rubbed together. The friction was so hot and delicious, clearly too satisfying to ignore. Korvo's hands held Terry's face in place, caressing him like they're lifemates and this was their honeymoon. The blue's robe was wide open while Terry marked rough toothy kisses against his sex partner's neck, riding his shirt up over his chest. The reaction his got from the biting made him lose it, all rational thought of "we can't do this, we just met. He's the repair guy!" Was tossed out the window. 

Terry doesn't wait for Korvo's demand for sex— he already knows it's there from the aggressiveness of his hips pressing onto him, as he pulled both their pants off and plunges into him. A loud gasp and choked out moan escapes the blue, feeling the warm wet of his love cave. Terry pushes it all in and doesn't waste time adjusting before moving his hips back and forth. 

"Fuh‐ uck! Nnnh..hh... Ter-" Terry swallows the words attempted by his lover. His mouth parted to feel the moans against his tongue.

Terry wanted to tell Korvo how good he felt, but the words only get lost and replaced with lewd throaty moans and mewls. With someone who's essentially a stranger to him, he was oddly beautiful under the dim light of the adult chamber. The pink sweat forming on his skin was a sight to behold. He'd find this odd later but he didn't care. Korvo was perfect in his arms in this moment.

Korvo held onto him, wrapping his legs around his waist for dear life. He claws on Terry's back, "haa... haaa... harder!" He cried, his insides were being attacked so viciously that it threatened an orgasm. His hips moved on its own, meeting with Terry's as it made clapping sounds from the impact. It forced a shattering orgasm out of him, shaking and trembling underneath the green with a series of, "Aaahhg... ffffuckk me..." 

The tightness of Korvo's inside edged him on as he released deep inside with a sounds of satisfaction on his lips. "Mmmmmm," He hummed. The feeling was still there in his loins, warm and stiff. His face was flushed with the smell of vanilla and the sweetness coming from Korvo, the realization hit, "I- I want more." He stutters.

Everything felt so sensitive, a simple kiss sent them flying. Nothing went through their minds as Korvo got on top of Terry, grinding, slamming himself down on his hardness, taking what he needed from him. Terry pulled Korvo down for another desperate kiss, swallowing his lovely sounds and thrusting up to meet Korvo's movement. He pushed Terry back down to the floor as a smirk played on his lips. He didn't care how slutty he looked, he just wanted _more_. 

Some five minutes later after a short break, the feeling would still linger and they'd go back to making love again, mindless and acting with only their bodies, their libido being abused by the aroma of a seductive plant. It would start off slow and wherever in the room. Korvo would guide Terry's hand to touch him where he wanted, and Terry would let him. At one point, they fucked in Vanbo's bed, on the desk, against the door, on Terry's bed. It was shameless. They'd rest together, taking a breath from the shagging, and just when they think it was over the libido acted up again, one would initiate the first touch, kiss or simple flirty smirk that screamed 'fuck me senseless'.

Eventually, the aphrodisiac wore off and they passed out together in Terry's bed, covered in his robe and the smell of faint vanilla. By the time, Korvo woke up, it was already past work time and late into the night. The emergency lockdown time had long passed. Terry was asleep beside him, his arm as a cushion for Korvo's head.

He blushed from the faint memories of their intercourse. At one point, Korvo thought he was in love with the guy. The drug made him feel things that normal takes a few dates to feel. His eyes roamed to the green lips, the urge of wanting to kiss him was there but he tried with all his might to pull away. He didn't want to wake the other.

He looked around in the dim-litted room for his robe. He slowly slipped out of the bed and tiptoed to his clothes on the floor and slipped it on. 

The absence of Korvo's body heat was enough to wake the green shlorpian. He sits up, rubbing his eyes to find him in the middle of putting his clothes on. "I never thought you were the type to run off." Terry's sleep voice croaked, slightly hurt that Korvo was going to leave without saying a word. 

"It was… cold." He excused himself. As much as he wanted to stay here with him, this was wrong. Terry is a guest on the ship.

"Right. Cold." Terry says getting up from the bed. Korvo forced his eyes to look elsewhere to avoid gawking at Terry's bare crotch. He slipped on the robe and then his pants. 

"At least the aphrodisiac wore off." Korvo says, trying to make the situation better. There was a slight feeling of guilty for his attempt to leave Terry behind. 

"Yeah." His words were cold. Terry slipped on his shoes and moved past Korvo, bumping into his shoulder as he left the room.

Korvo watched him leave as he turned the corner. Did he do something wrong?


	2. Chapter 2

Terry apologized over and over again. He sat at the foot of his respite chair, the cushion tucked under his arms with his elbows propped on top and his hands clasped together as if he was praying. He told the ghost of Terri how sorry he was for committing adultery and promised he wouldn't do it again. He'd go on his hands and knees, crawl back to Terri if he had to if it meant that she'll take him back after the sins he's committed. But he was lying to himself. As he begged for forgiveness, he thought about Korvo and how he was hurt by him, and it was worse when he played it off as if nothing happened, as if they were friends. They are friends, right? Far from it. Korvo was only the repair guy for the ship, nothing more.

The funeral for Vanbo happened. They burned his body with his things and Terry watched as the flames slowly ate the cadaver until there was nothing left but a burn spot on the platform. He was truly alone now.

In that fire, he couldn't stop thinking about Terri. What she would've said to him if he cheated on her when she was alive. Terry tried to come up with all the excuses in the book, "I'm not happy", "We fight a lot", "You don't wanna have an offspring with me", "You don't love me anymore." Those things weren't true, except the part about the offspring, but that wasn't enough for Terry to have eyes for someone else. He doesn't have eyes for someone else. He was just under the influence of a drug. Terry could've just masturbated until it wore off on its own, but he didn't. Why did he knock? Why did he need Korvo so bad?

Terry goes to leave the crematorium to find Korvo standing by the door. He froze. Korvo was the last person he wanted to see. He frowns.

"I wanted to thank you for, you know." There was shakiness in his voice, as he attempted to apologize for being selfish.

“No need to thank me.” Terry says, lacking any emotion in his voice. He didn’t want to be here right now. He didn’t want to face this- this homewrecker! Turning towards the door, Korvo was in his way and staring directly into Terry’s eyes. They were close enough for him to smell Korvo’s scent, the same one from last night. It awakened the slumbering concupiscence inside of him, like an alert from an internal alarm.

 _This is wrong_ . He reminded himself. _You love Terri._

Korvo moves out of the way for Terry to walk out of the room. For a moment, he wanted to give Korvo a friendly smile, one that he’s always given to people as a form of courtesy, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t deserve Terry’s polite smile after what he did. Terry storms off.

Weeks passed and Terry never bothered to show up to check on the ship’s progress. More importantly, he didn’t want to see Korvo, but at the same time, Terry didn’t want to be trapped in his room anymore. Every time he goes to leave, he would see either Korvo or Yumyulack. It was like they were everywhere. And each time he saw them, a twinge of guilt would strike at his heart because in some way, deep down, Terry really did want to be friends with Korvo. Maybe Korvo wanted to be his friend too, considering the fact that he told him his criminal secret. 

As much as Terry blamed Korvo for infidelity, he blamed himself too. This wasn’t Korvo’s fault. It was all Terry’s fault for being selfish and wanting someone to hold during his time of need. “I’m sorry Terri.” He wallowed in self-pity and remorse. He missed Terri, but she wasn't here for comfort anymore. The only person he opened up to was the repair guy. Terry apologized, not only for sleeping with Korvo but for chasing after him too.

Down in the ship management, Terry opened the glass door and peeked to see him with someone else? This person was yellow. It was.. the doctor? He was leaning against the ship while Korvo was holding a holo-tablet in his hand. Terry frowned as the twinge began to rear its ugly head again. He should've just stayed in the room with Terri. So much for being friends. He left the area, feeling like shit once again. 

“How about dinner?” The doctor spoke, trying to be sexy and undressing Korvo with his eyes. 

“For the last time, Vyc, I’m not going on a date with you.” He moves into the ship to estimate the amount of nanomachines in the filter. The yellow shlorpian follows him inside. 

“C’mon, Korvotron.” Korvo groans from the way he says his name. “I’ve never stopped thinking about you since we last… made love.”

“You’d have to be in love to make love.” Korvo doesn’t look at him but instead looks at the tar black of the nanomachines.

The doctor placed his hand under Korvo’s chin and forced him to make eye contact. Korvo’s eye twitched from this lamentable behavior. “Don’t you ever think of me?”

“No.” He smacked the doctor’s hand away. Slowly stepping closer to the man, poking his finger at the doctor's chest. “The thing about one night stands, that you don’t get, is that you don’t catch feelings from them. I think it’s time you learned that.” 

Vyc stayed silent for a moment, then leaned in and pecked Korvo on the lips. Korvo pushed him off and punched him. He yelled several curses at the doctor as he kicked him out of the ship. Korvo hears a faint, “I’ll call you.” then a new set of footsteps entered the ship. He turns to see his replicant.

“I see he’s still bothering you.” Yumyulack says, dropping the bag of nanomachine on the floor. “Should I-”

“No, we’re not killing him. Unfortunately for the rest of the employees, he’s the only doctor on the station.” An extremely clingy one. 

“I don’t like him.” Korvo unscrews the cover for the control panel and grabs the bag of nanomachines, dunking the whole back into the board. “So, what’s going on between you and that Terry guy? You stopped talking about him for about three days now.”

Korvo chuckled. “You pay attention to that stuff?” He spread the tiny black machines evenly. “Well, if you’re so curious, I hadn’t seen him around lately.”

“I just saw him.” Yumyulack says. 

“Really?” Korvo asked, stopping what he was previously doing. “Did you talk to him?” 

“No, I didn’t talk to him, but when he saw me he ran.” The young shlorpian shrugged as he took the holo-tablet and started up a game. 

“He ran.” Korvo repeated. If he didn't know any better, he would assume Terry was avoiding them on purpose. He knew he shouldn’t have told him about Yumyulack. People without replicants don’t really like people who do have replicants. Luckily, he never mentioned that to Vyc because he told him one time that he loved replicants. At that point, Korvo was just concerned for his child. 

“You think he’s avoiding you?” Yumyulack asked.

Yes. “No, that’s ridiculous. I’m repairing his ship, so he’ll have to come down to see me eventually.”

“Do you want him to see you?” The youngling asked, keeping his eyes on his game and not really caring for the answer. 

“Y- well- I mean- That’s not the point!” Korvo closed the cover to the control panel and screwed it shut.

“Whatever-”

“But why doesn’t he want to check on the ship? It’s very important to the mission. The mission is only a failure if all parties are deceased and Terry is not dead. The least he could do is care!” Korvo kicked the bottom metal part of the panel, hurting himself in the process. “Fuck!” He held his foot in his hand, jumping comedically as he did it. 

“Here’s an idea, why don’t _you_ talk to him?” 

Korvo looked at his child as if he was the smartest being in the universe. “You’re right, but he might think I’m clingy.”

“Yeah, go talk to him. I’ll handle the ship.” Yumyulack says, setting down the tablet and nudging Korvo out of the space cruiser. 

“But-” The youngling closed the door in his face before he could refuse. “Be careful with the circuits.” He says before exiting out of the area.

Confrontation isn’t Korvo’s strong suit, unless he’s provoked. But this is Terry, the guy who saw Korvo naked- well, Vyc also saw him naked, but that’s besides the point. It isn’t even about the sex. This is about the ship because Korvo cares about Terry’s mission to restore Shlorp even though he won’t be part of it. This is essential to Shlorpians even if they don't like it. This was too important to be selfish. 

Though Korvo really wanted to be selfish for once, whether it's with Terry or stealing his ship and running away with his replicant to start a new life somewhere. He would finally live his dream of exploring space, even with a stolen vehicle. If he had the choice, he would've just fixed the ship without Terry's knowledge and eloped, but he raised Yumyulack with morals and being good, something Shlorp never taught him.

Maybe soaring through space would only be a dream. Dreams don't come true for the dreamers. They do what they do best; Dream.

Korvo walks through the corridor for a good fifteen minutes before he realizes he doesn’t know where Terry’s room is. He wonders if he should ask around but he doesn’t want the rest of the workers to know that he’s involved with Terry too. It’s already bad enough that Vyc told the whole station that they were seeing each other even though it wasn’t true. Maybe that’s why Terry doesn’t want to come see him- see the ship, why he doesn’t want to see the ship is because he thinks Korvo is with someone. If that’s the case then he needed to clear the air between them and talk things out like adults. 

Turning a corner, Korvo sees Vyc again. To avoid him, he opened a random nearby door and slipped through it. He rests his back against the door. Seeing where he hid himself, it was a guest room. He could tell by the tall ceilings, pearly white walls, and an unnecessarily lavish living room. His room doesn’t even look like this, and it’s all cramped, plus he shares it with his replicant. The lavish lifestyle doesn’t work for his occupation. 

Korvo pressed his ear against the door to hear Vyc flirting with one of the nurses directly outside. He just hoped that this room was empty and wasn't occupied by-

“Korvo?” Terry called. He turned around to see the green alien wrapped in nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. His eyes immediately roamed to his sparkling clean chest. 

He goes over to the alien to shoosh him, glancing over at the door. “If anyone asks, I’m not here.” 

“Why would-”

There was a knock on the door. Korvo runs to hide somewhere as Terry watches him disappear behind the corner. He turned back to the door and opened it to see the doctor on the other side. “Good evening, Terry. I came to- is this a bad time?” Vyc glances at his chest. 

“What- no!” He was supposed to have a check up today and since this asshole is here, it’s only reasonable to bust Korvo with his two-timing ass. “Come in.” Terry says with a sly rictus on his face and ushering for the doctor to enter. 

"I see your arm is healing well." The doctor says.

Terry looked around the place for Korvo. "Why don't we come in here?" He pulls the alien towards the hall where Korvo disappeared to. He swings open the closet door to find nothing but a broom. "Shit."

"You want to do your check up in the closet?" The doctor raised his brow. 

"No! We could, uh-" Terry checked the other rooms, but still no Korvo. The last place he didn't check was his bedroom. "Do it in the bedroom." 

Korvo watched from under the bed as the two pairs of legs made their places by the comforter. The bed creaked as they sat on it, making a dent to where their asses were. "Have you been having any trouble lately?" Korvo's ex asked Terry.

"Not one that I could think of." Terry says trying to recall if he was unhealthy in any way ever since the accident. "But I do have an issue with someone. Korvo, the repair guy." 

Korvo tensed, wondering why Terry would bring him up like this when he specifically said to do the opposite. "Korvo." The doctor's voice cracked. 

"Yeah, what do you think about him?" There was mischief in Terry's voice. There's no way Terry knows that he's under his bed. This must be some sort of punishment for the last time they were alone together. 

"Korvo is great. He’s very passionate about electrical engineering and… other things. Y’know, Korvo and I have a history together, but things weren't working out between us so I left him." Liar! Korvo seethed with rage with this bullshit explanation. He was the one that left him first. Is this what the doc has been telling people? Korvo felt the bed creak as the doctor leaned towards Terry and caressed his bare thigh as he did it. "I think I'm ready to move on."

Korvo heard a loud slap sound followed by a grunt afterwards. "You fucking pervert!" Terry got up and held the door open. "Get out." 

The bed creaked as the doctor got up and walked out of the room. Terry slammed the door shut and went back on his bed, waiting to hear the front door slam shut behind the doc. Korvo rolled out from under the bed behind Terry. 

"You're not leaving yet." Terry says, not looking at Korvo. He turned to see the blue alien in his oil covered clothing. 

"I thought you didn't want to see me." Korvo held his arm for comfort, squeezing as he anticipated Terry's response.

"I did." He says. "Until I saw you with him." 

"With Vyc?" 

"Great, you're on nickname basis now." Terry says with bitterness in his voice. 

Right. His name is Vyckien. Korvo always knew him as Vyc the dick. "Look, what he said wasn't true, okay? We slept together once and he just kept coming back. I'm not looking for anything serious."

Nothing serious. It relieved Terry in a way to know that Korvo thinks this way, but it also brought up a certain kind of melancholy. This was okay, right? Terry wasn't replacing Terri with Korvo if he didn't think it was serious, if he didn't want something serious. "Is that why you came into my room?" 

"I came into your room to avoid him." Korvo sputters. "And I was also looking for you too, but I didn't know where your room was." 

"You were looking for me?" Terry's voice softens, feeling somewhat hopeful that Korvo cared enough to want to see him. 

"You never showed up to check on the ship. Were you avoiding me?." That last part looked like it hurt Korvo when he said it. 

Yes, Terry was avoiding him but he wasn't about to tell him that. 

"If this is about last week, I'm sorry for not saying anything to you." He came here just to apologize? Terry thought that this might be crossing a line because it was just sex, right? It didn't mean anything, but Terry still felt guilty that he avoided Korvo entirely. "I hope we can start over." 

Terry's face flushed a shade of blue. "Uh, yeah, sure." What's gotten into him? 

Korvo smiles. This one was genuine and not the forced one he had to give to passerbys. "Well, the ship is making progress. If you wanna check it out, you know where to find me." He says heading for the door. 

Terry wanted to stop him, he wanted Korvo to stay a bit longer, maybe talk more about himself or the ship, anything, but no words leave his mouth. The door closes and he hears the front door shut a few seconds after. 

Friends. They can start over as friends, who didn't fuck each other while being influenced by the love aroma of a flower. So many things can go wrong with this 'start over', and they are things Terry didn't want to risk. For starters, he didn't want to lead Korvo on because he didn't feel that way about the alien. Korvo did say he didn't want something serious but he wasn't specific on who. It's not like him to over think things like this. Terry hasn't jumped into serious overthinking since he first joined the required class for Pupa Care and when he met Terri.

This is bad. He needed to stop overthinking. The one thing that usually cures his anxieties was facing them and realizing it's not that bad. The other cure was Terri. 

Terry paced around in his room, deciding whether he should go for the kill and see his ship and see Korvo or stay in his room. He doesn't do either. Terry goes to look for his Pupa. 

In the Pupa Lab, they were taking examinations of the yellow critter because they found some damage in its system, so Terry couldn't take the pupa out for lunch. The next option was to look at his ship. 

He arrived at the ship management area but didn't go through the door. He saw Korvo working on the front part of the ship, using a ray gun to pull the dent out. He had a sun fruit in his hand and Terry rethinks going through to meet with him. The fruit, the yellow fruit that was in his dream, reminded him of Terri and it was in the hands of the repair man. His emotions began to play with him as he started to get flashbacks of his dream about Shlorp not blowing up. 

Just when he turned to go back into his room, he bumped into a familiar blue shorpian. He looked down to see the small Korvo spawn in front of him. He looked just like Korvo up close, but a light shade of blue. “H-how long were you standing there?” Terry asked.

“Long enough to know that you’re stalking Korvo.” Yumyulack crossed his arms, and gave Terry a deadpan look. “I thought he went to talk to you, but it looks like you’re still avoiding him.”

“I’m not avoiding him.” Terry glances over to Korvo walking around the ship to examine any mishaps done to the ship that he missed. “He just looks busy.” 

“It’s lunch.” Yumyulack says. “He’s not busy.” 

“Well, I’m busy. I have to… check on the pupa.” Terry nodded, trying to convince himself. “It’s very important work.”

“Mmhmm.” Yumyulack says, unphased by the lie. He quickly shoves Terry roughly into the door, causing it to swing open and Terry falls to the floor on the other side of the room. Yumyulack grabbed the door handle and held it shut. Terry hastily got up and tried to pull the door open. The young shlorpian took a ray gun out, making Terry gasp, realizing what he’s about to do. Yumyulack sealed the door with the liquid adhesive gun. He releases the door as Terry continues to pull on the handle. 

The youngling stuck his tongue out, pulled out his holo-tablet and walked away. “No wait, come back!” Terry banged on the door. “Dammit!” 

“He did the same thing to me earlier.” Korvo says.

Terry turned to see Korvo standing by the ship, looking like a snack. “Does he always do that?” He asks, having no choice but to go over to the blue alien.

“Sometimes.” He answers. “Wanna see the inside of the ship?” 

Terry was going to say yes but he stopped himself, remembering the last time they were in the ship together and they were far too into each other’s skins. “Is the plant gone?

Korvo’s face grew slightly bluer, being reminiscent of their moment together. “Yeah. The cleaners took care of it. It’s safe.” He thinks it is, at least.

They explore the insides of the ship. The old broken things were replaced with newer and cooler things like the seats in the main deck were replaced with comfier seats that had cushions instead of the uncomfortable cold metal ones. Most of the mess here was cleaned out, including the room that Terry and Korvo fucked in. Terry hoped that the person who cleaned it didn't find any cum stains on the floor or on the sheets. 

While the rest of the ship looked okay, the back boosters were removed. Korvo had told him that they were gonna be replaced because it was beyond repair, and then he went to explain mechanic stuff to him, which Terry zoned out during the entirety of the explanation. 

* * *

Since it was still early in the day, according to the Shlorpian clock, the sun would still be high up in the sky. The bar was open but there were barely any people in it. Because of this, the owner was inclined to play her favorite music off of a record player she purchased in the B.T times, when music used to be organic. When Korvo would visit the bar for a drink, she would tell him about the Before Tech times and how Shlorp used to be so full of life and music, but those days were gone ever since they figured out how to prolong the life expectancy of a regular shlorpian. Everything upgraded and nothing was the same anymore. Hilda didn't have long to live. Korvo could tell by the stems growing from her head and her arms. _Children_ , she'd call the leaves that budded from her tiny branches. 

Korvo made sure to visit her often to keep the old lady company. Here he was with Terry. 

Taking his usual seat at the end of the table with Terry by his side. He observed the dim lights lined along the walls, lighting up the red wallpaper. There were pictures of ancient flora, ones that probably went extinct from the new tech’s pollution. Come to think of it, Terry's never been in a bar like this. The usual bars on Shlorp had AIs prepare drinks, serve the customers, and cleaned the place afterwards. They practically lived there. The designs were usually brighter with flashing neon lights that could give seizures to someone at a 10 foot radius. They were over the top. And the music. Terry thought it sounded okay, but Terri thought it sounded like static from a radio signal. They stopped going to bars together and would drink at Terri's place. Terry missed the bar. 

"Hilda." Korvo greeted with a warm smile. 

"Korvo, it's always so nice to see you." She smiled back. "Do you want the usual?"

"Yeah." He answered. 

When it came to Terry's order, he didn't know what to say. Normally at bars on Shlorp if the AI saw your face, they'd scan you and know what you'd want, if you were a regular customer. What drinks did they have on the station? There are a million drinks to choose from, probably a million more if there were new ones created here. "I'll have what he's having." Terry answered. 

The bartender, Hilda, mixed a series of drinks in front of them and poured them in a cup. When she was done, she winked at Terry and pushed the cups forward. She left the remaining drinks in a bottle right beside Korvo and disappeared behind the 'employees only' door. Terry wondered what that meant. He wondered if this was how Korvo got people to sleep with him. 

"You're not planning to take me to your place, right?" Terry asked, wanting to make sure. As much as he would be interested, which he wasn't, he didn't want to ruin their budding friendship. 

"No, that'll be embarrassing." Korvo chuckles at the thought of bringing Terry into his cramped room and Yumyulack is there, all confused. He would probably make a joke about Terry being the 'other parent'. 

"Why is that?" 

"Just… because," Korvo says. "We're friends." 

Good. Korvo felt the same way. Terry had nothing to worry about. 

He sipped the cup of liquid bliss and nearly gagged from the taste, but he swallows regardless to be polite. He did order the same drink because he didn't know what to order. Terry glanced at Korvo who downed the whole thing in one sitting. It worried him how Korvo liked his drinks; strong and bitter, like medicine. Now that he thinks about it, Korvo might be trying to poison him with this drink. 

Soon the bitter taste in his mouth was replaced with something sweet and it made his tongue feel like berries. He watched as Korvo poured himself another drink. It was a side effect of the drink. Now he knows why Korvo likes it so much. Terry swallowed the contents in the cup, immediate being met with the burn of bitterness on his tongue. He stuck his tongue out and huffs the bitterness. 

He heard Korvo chuckling as he tried to breath normally. "It's not great the first time, but it gets better." He says. 

The bitterness soon wears off and his tongue begins to taste like berries again. If he could, he would eat his own tongue. Normally, Terry would just order something fruity off the bat, even if it did leave a gross rotty taste in his mouth later. 

They drank and drank. The silence was replaced with laughter and small meaningless conversations. They were a bit too close, mostly because Terry couldn't hear Korvo very well with the amount of people filling the bar as the day began to end.

Somehow, Korvo ended up at Terry's place again. He doesn't remember telling him that he would walk him to his room, but he does remember falling face first into the metals of the floor and feeling embarrassed by it. He cried as Terry slurred his words, telling Korvo that it was okay. Korvo remembers wanting to kiss Terry but he moves away and they get up off the floor. 

Terry offered an invitation, saying something about Korvo walking home drunk. "N-no, it's fine." He says. "I gotta get back to my partner."

Confusion struck him, Terry didn't know Korvo had a partner, then he realized he was talking about Yumyulack, who he referred to as his partner, instead of his replicant. Nobody knows about Korvo's little secret besides Terry, and it made him feel special to the blue alien. 

Terry didn't know if his face was hot because of the drinks or because Korvo's lips look delectable and he wanted to replicate what he and Korvo did back in the Respite Block on the ship. They just stood there spacing out and smiling all dopey at each other. 

He didn't want Korvo to walk by himself to his room. Anything could happen while he's on his way there, he could trip and fall or accidentally open a vortex out of the station. He opened his mouth to say something but Korvo beat him to it. 

"Goodnight." He says, hesitantly turning away from Terry's room and walking off. 

Terry hated to see him leave, but damn, he's got cake. He closed his eyes and closed the door behind him. 

Korvo didn't go back to his shared room. He went to the only place where it could cure his depressive self. 

"Korvo, you're back." Hilda says, astoundment in her voice. "How was your date?" 

"He wasn't my d-d-date." He leans on the counter. "He's the guy wh-who's ship crashed- on here." He burped. "'scuse me." 

"Aw, poor thing." Hilda says, wiping down the counter. "I heard his partner died." 

"Y-eup." Korvo says. "Can-can I crash here? I don't want Yumyulack to-to see me like this." 

"Sure, cornflower." She says, handing him the keycard to her home upstairs. Korvo takes it and thanks her. He goes through the 'employee's only' door and takes a turn to where the stairs were. Sticking the card in the little hole beside the door, it makes the familiar unlocking sound and slides open. 

The room was dark as he made his way into the small guest's room, memorizing the path from the many times he’s been here before. It had a window and a view of the nearby gas planet that no one bothered to name. Korvo named it Chartreuse because of the color of the planet, a mix between yellow and green. It was an unoriginal name but it was something of Korvo's that felt like it belonged to him. 

In times like these, when he finds himself here in the small single bed beside the window to the vacuum of space and his only friend that bothers to listen to him is that disgusting green planet nearby. He pressed his head against the window, touching the cool silicate glass, his finger traced on the green of the planet. He thought of Terry, a similar green but not as ugly or repulsive. He thought of his ex-lifemate, a pale green, too pastel, too heartless, too little for Korvo. 

His lifemate was scheduled for evacuation. He wondered if he went, where was he now? Korvo wondered if his ex thought of him, not that he should care, but still, it would be nice to be remembered. A hiccup escaped his berry flavored lips. The separation papers came to mind and he was curious if his ex-lifemate ever signed them, or if he just left it on the counter like he always does with important documents. The long nights alone, the arguments that never took place and his rage when he was with him filled his head. He doesn't remember why he was so mad at him at all. Maybe it was the jealousy that made him want to be separated, jealous of the fact that he got to go explore the galaxy while Korvo stayed and died. And his lifemate’s response, "because you're not good enough," angered him more. He already knew that and didn’t need it to be spit back in his face.

Their fire was dying, Korvo knew that. There was no hope in saving a lost love. Neither of them wanted to speak about it, so Korvo made the first move and gave him the separation papers to sign. Pondering the possibility of a love that was never there, it brought him misery. Now that the government is gone and his lifemate was elsewhere in the universe, Korvo is a free man, a lonesome free man. How foolish of him to think that love was ever real. But this was what he wanted— no, he didn't want to separate, he wanted his lifemate to chase after him, to beg him not to leave, to at least show that he cared. He never saw his lifemate again.

Korvo never told his lifemate about Yumyulack, knowing that he would be the first person to rat him out if he knew. Korvo needed this, he needed to prove that there was nothing wrong with him and he was right. It's too late though. Everyone left and the planet is gone. There's no one to prove himself too.

The reflection of the green lights his room just barely, casting a shadow behind him, a sad shadow much like himself. If there's one thing he craves right now, it would be the arms of someone, not just anyone, definitely not Vyc, maybe Terry? He's good at cuddling and he smells good too. Vyc also smells good, but he's too good for Korvo. Behind that desperate, pervy exterior lies a humble man that Korvo feels he doesn't deserve. Then again, he doesn't deserve Terry either. The dude's lifemate died not too long ago and yet Korvo is making moves on him. Low blow.

A groan escapes him. Why couldn't the liquor just knock him out like the rest of the people who drink it instead of giving him unnecessarily complicated thoughts. He gazes at the distant stars. It must be fun being a star, not having to be bombarded with feelings that don't matter. He wonders what Terry is thinking about now or if he's asleep. He wonders what would've happened if he said yes and stayed in Terry's pretentiously designed guest room instead of gandering out the window of an old lady's home. He should've said yes. It would’ve been a lot better than being alone like he always is.

The view here is beautiful, whether from a highly advanced space cruiser or from a lunar space station. The stars and dust particles sing Korvo to sleep with the made up songs he gave them and reminded himself to help Hilda later when he wakes. 

* * *

The order for the back boosters arrived and the only thing to do now was to hook it up to the ship, the only problem was that Korvo wasn’t here. Yumyulack examined the broken glass from the door that he sealed shut with the ray gun. He can’t believe they actually broke the door to escape. Checking the time, it was past the evening and heading into midnight, when bedtime would be. Yumyulack couldn’t move this hunk of metal alone. Where the hell was Korvo?

Yumyulack ditched moving the giant piece of machinery and went to look for his parent in the only place he knew he would be. 

He stood in front of the bar that had a big sign that read, Hilda’s Bar. He entered as the adults ignored him and went about with their business. Hilda turned around to see the younger Korvo looking up at her. “Oh, Yumyulack.” She greeted me with a smile. “How lovely to see you here.”

“Is Korvo here?” He asked, avoiding the urge to stare at her leaves. 

“He’s upstairs.” She pointed to the door with the familiar sign. 

Yumyulack followed to where she pointed. That poor old tree lady forgetting that Korvo told her to not let Yumyulack find out, but he knew his problem long before Korvo started this charade. He walked up the steps and opened the unlocked door. He went to the guest room that Korvo would often sleep in and walked in. Just as always, Korvo was passed out, his head against the glass and in a fetal position. 

The youngling pokes at his parent’s sleeping face, making him scrunch up the bridge where his nose would be and lazily smacks Yumyulack’s hand away. He sighs, going over to grab the blanket that Hilda made by the chair and puts it over Korvo’s body.

He sits beside the adult on the bed, his shoes digging into the carpet on the floor. Yumyulack hated when Korvo would get drunk enough to sleep in Hilda’s guest room. He stares at the floor, his feet playing with the flap of the carpet as he hears the adult quietly snore in his sleep. Didn’t Korvo know that he hated sleeping alone? 

Making his way down stairs, he goes around the counter and into the backroom to put on his apron. Since Korvo was asleep, he might as well help Hilda around here. He went around to serve the customers, cleaned the tables, swept the floor until it was closing time. This was a lot better than sitting at home and waiting for Korvo to show up until the morning, plus Hilda seemed to enjoy his dark humored jokes. 

When the bar closed, Korvo was still asleep. So, Hilda treated Yumyulack to some sweets, which he secretly liked. It was riddled with cocaine and it would keep him up for hours, until it wore off and he would pass out from exhaustion. He was hesitant to leave the bar because he didn’t want to leave Korvo alone, but he did so anyway to play into Korvo’s fantasy that he doesn’t know that he drinks. Yumyulack wasn’t a kid anymore and Korvo didn’t seem to get that.

He goes home into the small cramped space of his room. His bed was a bunk and he took to the top one while Korvo took the bottom one. He chose the top one because Korvo used to tell him stories about space exploration and the stars, and at the time, Yumyulack thought if he took the top bunk he would be closer to the stars. Those glow in the dark fake stars that Korvo bought for him seemed childish now, but Yumyulack never bothered throwing them away.

Taking his phone out, he explored the emptiness of Shlorp social media. Nobody posts because everyone is dead, except for the people who are alive. Nobody cares for the internet anymore and it was Yumyulack’s safe space because these posts would never see the light of day. He keeps the scrolling until the cocaine wears off and he falls into a slumber. 


	3. Chapter 3

About a month in, Korvo and Terry have gotten closer as friends, hanging out whenever Korvo was free. Even when he wasn’t, Terry would show up to tell Korvo about some gossip on the station or what was on the menu in the cafeteria. He and Yumyulack got along well because he understood the jokes Yumyulack would tell and they’d play pranks on Korvo while he tried to repair the ship. He brought the Pupa for Yumyulack to meet. At first, Yumyulack didn’t want to touch the pupa because the texture looked gross and gooey, but the little yellow machine grew on the adolescent. 

As the ship was getting better, Terry grew anxious because he knew he would have to leave the two Shlorpians behind to finish his mission. Because of his anxiety, he would often interrupt Korvo while he was working. Those pranks were an attempt to prolong his stay at the station. When the pranks stopped working, he had to resort to another solution. 

“Korvo, I want a replicant.” Terry says, while the repairman was working on the engine of the machine. 

A _thunk_ sound, followed by an ‘ouch’, Korvo crawled out from under the mechanism. “You what?”

Terry hesitates for a moment, reconsidering what he just said. “I, uh, want a replicant.”

He took it as Terry telling him he wants a replicant with him. He blushed a dark blue, stammering as he tried to find the words for this very forward and flattering request. 

Judging by Korvo’s reaction, he must’ve taken it the wrong way. “I mean one of my own.”

“Oh.” He sounded disappointed. “You want me to help you.” He says, mostly for himself to understand than for Terry. 

“Yes.”

“You want to make one right now?” 

If it means Terry gets to stop Korvo from working any further on the ship, then yes. “Mhmm.” He nodded.

Korvo dropped everything and they went into the lab where the supplies were. While Terry distracted the rest of the Shlorpian with a joker’s gambit, Korvo took the needed supplies when they weren’t looking. He shoved them under his robe and ran out of the lab. Terry came up with some excuse to leave and followed Korvo. 

They hid away in Terry’s room while Korvo sorted out the things. One of the things Korvo pulled out of his robe was a knife. Terry flinched. 

“I forgot that was one of the procedures.” He began to goobler, remembering all those times he had to go to the botanist to cut something off to grow the clone. 

“It’ll be quick.” Korvo promised.

“Okay, but be-”

He doesn’t wait for him to finish and he cuts off a whole finger. Terry screamed but Korvo quickly covered his mouth with his hand, muffling the screaming. Terry called Korvo an asshole through his hand. He quickly buries the finger in the soil and pours nutrients and several other supportive liquids for plant growth. “Okay, we’re done here.”

“We-we are?” He looks at the little pot of soil. He expected it to take a lot longer than just an hour.

“All you need to do is wait.” Korvo says, gathering all the materials to discard. 

“But I don’t know how to take care of it. You need to help me.” Terry grabbed onto Korvo with his not bloody hand. 

“I will but I need to work. Spray nutrients every hour and keep it in the light. I’ll be back later, okay?” Korvo assures and then he is out the door. 

“Dammit.” Terry looked at the pot. He kneeled to get a closer look at it, scared to touch the thing for fear of accidentally killing it. He can’t believe he talked Korvo into helping him make a replicant. He can’t believe he’s going to have a replicant. Truth be told, Terry didn’t want one, but he didn’t want to leave so soon. This plan backfired. 

He wondered if an hour had passed yet to feed the seedling. Terry watched the soil to see if anything was happening but nothing did. It was just dirt. He was looking at dirt. _Did Korvo do this all day when he was making Yumyulack,_ Terry thought. 

Several hours had passed and there was a knock at Terry's door. He opened it to see Yumyulack with a worried expression. "Something happened to Korvo." He says, trying to keep himself from crying. 

_What_. They went to the medical center together but they couldn't see Korvo because they were performing surgery on him. The pieces of the engine got loose and it exploded in his face, with a chunk of metal lodged in his head. That's what the doctors told him and Yumyulack. They didn't mention anything about his survival rate. _It went through his brain,_ Terry thought, thinking that there's no way he could've survived.

There were so many things running through his mind. First and foremost, he was scared that Korvo was going to die because of his busted ship. The second was that he was gonna lose another person he cared about from the inevitable. If Korvo survives this, then he gets to stay longer with him, but he couldn't ignore Korvo's possible death. 

He looked over at Yumyulack who looked sick to his stomach. He was just as scared as Terry. Normally, replicants on Shlorp are raised by elders not by their donors. It was to keep a sense of identity and independence, but Yumyulack never got any of that. He's always been with Korvo ever since he came out of the soil. Korvo taught him about independence and how to be independent, but Yumyulack never got a chance to do it on his own. He was scared to be on his own. 

Because Korvo raised Yumyulack, and not the authorities, he eventually recognized Korvo as his father, calling him dad when he first learned how to speak. Korvo taught Yumyulack to call him by his name, correcting the young whenever he would slip up and say 'dad'. When they would go out in public, Yumyulack would have to walk on the other side of the street so people wouldn't suspect that he was Korvo's replicant. Life was hard being an illegitimate clone. Regardless of that, Korvo still stayed and took care of him and adjusted his lifestyle just for Yumyulack. He didn't know life without Korvo because everything he did was for his son. 

And now he was on the verge of death. 

Yumyulack left the waiting room. He couldn't stand feeling useless while his parent is suffering in the medical room. 

Terry followed Yumyualck outside, finding him facing a wall and hugging himself. "H-hey, everything will be fine." Terry tried to give the kid some hope. 

Yumyulack turned, he had tears in his eyes. Without thinking, he pulled him into a hug. Yumyulack sobbed into Terry's chest. There was one thing Terry realized with Yumyulack in his arms, he might have to be the one to take care of him if Korvo dies. 

Luckily Korvo didn't die. The surgery was a success. The metal damaged the part of the brain where regeneration was located, so he couldn't self heal. The doctor managed to fix it and he's healing slowly but he couldn't have visitors. Terry offered for Yumyulack to stay at his place until they're able to visit Korvo. He declined. "I'm staying until he wakes up." 

Terry patted the pale blue alien and went off into his room. He hoped his replicant was doing okay without him. He opens the door to see the pot perfectly kept on his low table just like he left it. Upon closer inspection, he realized the soil looked lighter. He stuck a finger in it and found that it was dry. Terry scrambled to find the nutrients and sprayed it onto the soil, dampening it. The soil turns back into a darker shade of purple like before. Terry sighs in relief. 

"Sorry, I almost forgot about you." He says, then the melancholy struck him when he said that. He had forgotten almost all of his unborn replicants. He realized he never apologized for that. "I'm sorry for leaving you behind." He was speaking to his dead replicant on Shlorp, and all the other ones he neglected. "I don't know how to be a parent. I don't know how to be like Korvo." 

Sleep didn't take place that night. Terry stayed up to keep spraying nutrients on his little seedling in the dirt. Korvo helped him make a replicant he didn't want, the least he could do was attempt to take care of it. All he thought about was Korvo. He imagined Yumyulack knocking on his door and telling him that Korvo died and his heart would sink into his stomach because there was no Korvo and no ship repair. He thought about how the people in his life seem to die in vain because of him. Vanbo died because Terry didn't check on his replicant and they left the planet too late. Terri died because Terry was selfish. Korvo's gonna die because of his ship.

This all felt like the plant god was punishing him. 

Terry spent the night in his living room, on the couch, checking the time every few minutes to see if any time had passed at all. He was bored. He wished Terri was here with him. He wished Korvo was here. 

It was the morning, maybe too early into the morning, he didn't know. Terry has fallen asleep with his eyes open. He's gotten into the habit of doing that ever since he entered schooling. It worked wonders for someone who fails to pay attention in class. 

The footsteps outside were loud enough to wake the sleeping alien up. He lazily blinks his eyes, one at a time and looked at the pot of soil in front of him. Right. He's a father now. He took the spray bottle and dampened the soil as instructed by Korvo. Korvo! He just remembered that he's in the medical room. 

Terry ran out of his room to the medical center. There, the receptionist said he was able to see the alien. When he peeked through the door, he saw Yumyulack standing by his bed, looking down at the sleeping blue guy. Korvo's arm and left side of his face had the blemishes of a burn victim and the right side of his face had a huge scar running down his eye where the metal struck him. The skin was darker than the rest of his skin because of the blue blood holding the flesh together like stitches. 

He's never seen anyone with injuries that bad before. They'd heal with the natural regeneration abilities, but Korvo's got damaged during the accident. Terry didn't know what to do. He wanted to walk in and be there for Korvo but part of him wanted to leave because he felt like he didn't belong. No, he ran away last time. All he's been doing is run away. Korvo might look okay now, but what if something worse happens and he wasn't there. Holding his breath, he walks through the door. 

Yumyulack doesn't look at Terry, for fear that if he looked away from his father, he would die. Terry comes over and places a hand over the alien's shoulder. "You should get some rest." He says, knowing that Yumyulack probably stayed up all night waiting for Korvo to wake up.

"I'm fine."

He wasn't fine and Terry knew this. "I'll watch him." He says, trying to ease Yumyulack's perturbation. "It'll be okay, I promise."

Yumyulack thought about it for a moment, he could barely keep his eyes opened and if Korvo was going to wake up then he should at least have the energy to be awake. "If anything happens, you tell me." He says. "I'm going to sleep." 

And he walks out the door.

Grabbing a chair, he places it by the bed and rests his legs. He wanted to touch the scars on Korvo's arm but didn't want to risk messing anything up. Terry couldn't bring himself to look at Korvo's face again, only half of it looked like him, the other half was deformed and ugly. It scared him. 

"I'm sorry." He doesn't know why he says this. Apologies don't make the wounds heal faster, or bring anyone back. Once Korvo was back, he probably wouldn't want to fix Terry's ship anymore because it attacked him. 

He stares at the burnt skin of Korvo's hand as it twitched. It almost forced him to look Korvo in the face but he kept his eyes low. He doesn't know whether to take Korvo's hand or leave him alone. Before he decides what to do, the doctor enters the room, startling the green alien. 

"Oh, it's you." Terry says, unimpressed. 

"Well, who else is going to treat him?" The doctor replies with an attitude. "I'm not thrilled that this happened to my Korvo." 

Terry physically cringes at how he says, 'my Korvo' as if he was an object. He grimaced at the doctor for being possessive over someone who wasn't his. "He's not yours." Fuck. He didn't mean to say that. 

The doctor ignores him and goes to check on Korvo. He pulled out a magnifying glass and held it to Korvo's arm, seeing that the cells were slowly repairing his skin. "Oh, good. It's working." He says enthusiastically. 

He moves to the cabinet and takes out some medical nutrient spray and sprays Korvo with it. The liquid sinks into his skin, leaving a light trail of steam that healed the skin. It looked like it hurt him.

"He'll be fine by tomorrow." Vyc expected Terry to leave but he didn't move an inch. "You can go now." He says, making it very explicit that he wants the green man to leave. 

"I'm fine where I am." Terry crossed his arms, sinking into the seat and making himself comfortable. The doctor screamed bad vibes and Terry wasn't going to leave an unconscious Korvo with this creepy guy, not after what he tried to do with him.

The doctor frowns. "What's your relationship with Korvo?" He sounded bitter, possibly jealous. "Because he's been around the station, if you know what I mean."

Terry didn't believe that one bit, but he played along anyway. "Is that why you're still trying to get back together with him?" He gets up from his seat, towering over the shorter doctor. "He told me everything and about your bullshit lies." 

Vyc began to goobler, believing Terry's lies. _Just how much did Korvo tell him_ , he wondered. If anyone finds out that he lied about getting his 4th degree then they'd throw him off the station. 

"And for the record, Korvo's mine." Terry hissed. The doctor backed off and stormed out of the room. Terry takes his place back into the seat. He unknowingly glances at Korvo's sleeping face. "I hope you didn't hear that."

* * *

The last thing remembered was a blast to the face, or was it the last vase of flowers received by a lover, or maybe the news given by a higher authority about avoidable sudden death. Regardless of these things, it didn't make him feel okay. The vase of flowers, specially plucked by the lifemate who's name he never utters, rests on the desk of his office. This one was for their 45th anniversary. In terms of Shlorpian society, this wasn't very long. At most, it would roughly be about five Earth years.

These flowers were definitely picked by his lifemate but they weren't sent by him. Despite this little disappointing fact, Korvo still accepted them. He cared enough to pick them. 

They were supposed to go on a date to celebrate their little victory together, but he never showed up. Korvo felt like an idiot. He'd done this about three times already. The first time it happened, Korvo was able to forgive him because he was 'busy'. The second time it happened, Korvo cried, disappointed and sad. The third time, he was angry. Not a single call or messenge was sent to inform him of his cancellation. 

Korvo was a fool to stay until the restaurant closed. Just when his lifemate would show underappreciation and neglect, he would show up and win Korvo's heart all over again. This time they actually did spend time together and even made love on the balcony of his apartment building. The love making was mediocre and Korvo faked his orgasm, but it's the thought that counts. 

Their little routine would be rinsed and repeated until his lifemate no longer planned these surprises. Korvo would try to plan many of them for his lifemate but he'd be met with 'I'm busy', 'Can't right now, maybe later'. There was no later. Eventually, Korvo gave up. It didn't feel like he had a lifemate anymore. 

Very often he'd find himself on his balcony, overlooking the view of Shlorp's night sky and seeing the space station several miles away from the planet. It blocked the view of the stars. He'd drink himself into oblivion and having no one to hold when he did so. The phone in his hand would be set to call his lifemate and he would rethink about dialing him up. _Who would be busy everyday of their goddamn life,_ Korvo would think. 

He never realized that his lifemate had someone else. 

When making Yumyulack he stayed up almost every night, setting an alarm for every hour to tend to the seedling. It completely messed up his sleep schedule, but it was worth it though. Within a span of four Shlorp weeks, it finally sprouted. Korvo was so happy that he cried. And eventually with patience and care, Yumyulack detached from the roots in the pot of soil. 

That was probably the happiest Korvo ever been, the rest was the struggle for survival and not getting caught by the government for his malfeasance. There had been many instances on the news about Shlorpians creating a replicant of their own and it never turns out well. That's what the government wanted the citizens to fear. Korvo never imagined himself being one of those people. He always followed the rules, in school, at work, in life, but those days were gone when his government rejected him. This wasn't a ploy against them. It was to prove that he wasn't defective, and now he's stuck with a child and the planet was counting down to its doom. 

Korvo filed Yumyulack under another person who knew about his crime. This was Korvo's friend. The plan was for Yumyulack to leave with him on the exhibition and Korvo was to stay behind. That plan didn't fall through because his friend ended up dying from a ship testing accident. So he was stuck again. 

There was an ad for more crew members to be on the Lunar Space Station, specifically people who specialized in electrical and mechanical engineering. Korvo took the job and then worked his way to convincing the head of the station that he needed an assistant, so he nominated Yumyulack. 

"He's a bit young." The boss said.

"He's just short." Korvo lied. 

And Yumyulack was hired.

What brought Korvo here in his deathbed in the first place? Right. He remembers. The engine exploded. Luckily, Yumyulack wasn’t the one who took the hit. If he was the one to get injured the rest of the crew members would find out he's just a kid based off of the size of his cells. 

All Korvo could see was darkness, literally. The explosion burned the right side of his face, taking his sight and then the metal chunk hit his left eye. Talk about a case of bad luck. However, his hearing was still good, and he heard Terry say, "I hope you didn't hear that." 

There were a series of trips Korvo had gone through. It was like being drunk if drunk was also being drunk. Basically, he was high. Every ten minutes felt like an agonizing hour of nothing in between. His sight came back but everything was white and blurry. He would hear Terry and Yumyulack talking and laughing. Korvo would laugh too at nothing in particular, just hearing them having fun made him want to join in.

At one point, he heard Terry talking to him. "I showed Yumyualck my replicant." He says. "He thought you were making another one to replace him, isn't that funny?" 

Terry was still blurry since Korvo was drugged up and his thoughts were incoherent. Because squinting made no difference, Korvo moved his head closer to Terry's to get a better look. The alteration of his mind made Korvo hallucinate his lifemate. As much as he hated to see him, he was glad that he was there. Without much thought, he acted what his instincts told him and kissed the green. 

The hallucination slapped him. "Oh, my god. I-I'm sorry, Korvo." It said, touching the warm spot on his face. 

"You remembered." Korvo blushed, referring to his lifemate knowing that he likes to be slapped during their intimate moments together.

"Wha- okay, I think you need to go to bed." Terry laid Korvo down and put the covers over his body. 

"Stay with me." His voice was small, almost like a whisper but loud enough for Terry to hear. "Please?" 

Terry disappeared into the hall to check to see if Yumyulack was asleep. Once he confirmed that the kid was sleeping, he closed the door to his bedroom and crawled into bed with Korvo. He cuddled up with the blue alien, feeling his warmth as the scent of medicine and nutrient spray filled his senses. 

It's been awhile since Terry cuddled with anyone, besides that one time with Korvo in the ship. He closes his eyes and falls asleep as he hears a faint, _I love you._

The biological clock rang as it informed the body that it’s time to wake up. Korvo opened his eyes, the room was clearer and he could see the distinct patterns of floral design on the ceiling along with the golden nipple of the ceiling light. Being in a haze of healing potion after-effects, he realized that the medical room doesn’t look this nice. He would know because he’s been to the medical center one too many times. 

Korvo sits up, knocking Terry off of him and waking him up too. “Ow, what the fuck, Korvo?” He complained, catching the blue guy’s attention. 

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Korvo screamed, pulling the sheets over his body. He looked around the room and realized he was in Terry’s bed. “What am _I_ doing here?”

“It’s okay, don’t panic.” Terry reached over to calm Korvo down. 

“Why am I in your bed?” There’s only one logical explanation for this. His face turned blue. “We didn’t…”

“No, we didn’t have sex.” Terry finished, whispering as he spoke.

A huge sigh of relief escapes Korvo’s mouth. _Thank God_. 

“Do you remember what happened?” Terry asked, slightly uncomfortable because of the kiss that happened last night.

Korvo tried to recall what happened to him. He remembers the explosion, that weird dream he had about his sad life with his lifemate and about raising Yumyulack, then nothing. “Your ship decided it didn’t like me and sent me to the medical center.” 

Terry was silent, hesitant to ask but did so anyway. “Is that all you remember?” 

“Yeah.” He didn’t know what to expect. Needless to say, Terry was slightly disappointed. “Why do you ask? Did something happen that I wasn’t aware of?”

“N-no!” A strained chuckle escapes his throat. “It was nothing too important anyway.”

Anything could mean ‘nothing too important’, and Korvo wanted to know what it was, but before he could ask, Yumyulack opens the door. “Hey, I heard- Korvo, you’re awake.” He says, trying to suppress his excitement.

“Yeah, sorry for worrying you.” Korvo says. 

“I wasn’t worried.” Yumyulack crossed his arms. “Wait, why are you two in the same bed?”

“No reason.” Terry says.

“I don’t know.” Korvo replies. 

“Well, since you’re awake, I could finally go eat something.” The pale blue alien closes the door, followed by another sound of closing doors as he leaves the room.

“You didn’t feed him?” Korvo turned to Terry, gritting his teeth. 

He puts his hands up in defense. “Hey, he was the one who kept rejecting a meal. Look on the bright side though, your burn is finally gone. But you still got that cool scar over your eye.” Terry traces a finger over Korvo’s cheek where the scar ran. It was pale blue rather than a dark, nasty blue from when he first saw it. Realizing what he was doing, he pulled his hand away as the blood rushed to his face. “We should get something to eat since you’re better now.” 

Shooting up, he marched out of the room, leaving Korvo. _What the hell was that?_ He wondered why he touched Korvo like that. There are a lot of things he wonders about when he’s with Korvo, and why he reacts the way he does when the guy is simply existing. 

They go to the cafe to find Yumyulack playing gambling games with the elder Shlorpians, betting on useless Shlorp coins from back in the day. It has no value anymore, but having them was a privilege. It was a weird fascination the young Shlorpian had. Because of these games, he became better at gambling, negotiating, and scamming. 

Once he spotted the two familiar adults, he ditched the game. To the dismay of his friends, they all groaned. “It was getting good.” One of them says. 

They all ate together, caught Korvo up on anything he missed when he was asleep. Korvo wanted to work on the ship since he was feeling better but Terry decided against it. “You just woke up. Why don’t you take a break?”

“Me being in the medical center was my break.” He chomped on a fruit. “Besides, I know what I did wrong, so I’m gonna do it right this time.”

“Don’t you think you’ve been working too hard on this?”

“No. It’s my job.”

“I get that, but there's nothing wrong with taking it slow. The ship isn’t going anywhere, Korvo.” 

“Yes, and neither am I, which is why it’s the perfect time to fix it.” 

Yumyulack stared between the two adults having a passive aggressive disagreement about ship repair. 

“If you’re so against me working on the ship then you don’t have to be there when I do it.” Korvo says getting up. 

“You can’t kick me out of my own ship!” Terry stood up too. 

“Yes I can because you’re not the one repairing it!” The conversation ended there and Korvo stomped away. 

Yumyulack watched as Korvo left, then looked back at Terry who was still in awe at their fight. “Relationship issue.” The pale blue shlorpian says. 

“Eat your vegetables. I’m gonna go talk to him.”

* * *

The ship was just like how he saw it, except for the busted engine that isn’t even hooked up. Korvo looked around the control panel to see that it was still activated, which was why it exploded in his face when he tried to screw it in.

Stupid Terry, trying to stop him from doing his job. Doesn’t he know he’s trying to help him? People just take him for granted sometimes. There was no time for resting or a full recovery. As long as Korvo could use both his hands and he could see, then it was fine by him to work on the ship. Turning off the engine, Korvo turns around to see Terry by the exit of the ship. He doesn't say anything, neither does Terry. When Korvo moved to the side to leave, Terry just moved in front of him. “Very mature of you.” He says. 

Korvo tried to move past Terry, shoving him out of the way as he did it, but he just grabbed onto Korvo and pressed on the buttons to shut the door. “Now you can’t work on the engine because it’s outside.” 

“The ship isn’t locked, idiot.” Korvo snapped. 

Terry reached over to press the emergency lockdown button. Another casing of metal snaps over the door.

“You know I could just just override the protocol.” Korvo crossed his arms at how dumb Terry is being right now.

“Yeah, but it’s all the way over there and you’re all the way over here with me in the way.” Terry mocked. 

Suddenly, Korvo raced for the buttons, but Terry tackled him down. Turning on his stomach, he crawled, using his arms to pull him over to the panels with Terry trying to hold him down. “Get off of me!” Terry pushed himself up, then turned Korvo over, pinning his arms above his head. Korvo grunts, trying to kick Terry off but doesn’t succeed. “What is wrong with you? Don’t you want me to fix the ship?”

“No, I don’t!” Terry yelled back. 

Korvo breathed, his chest rising and falling. “Why not?” 

“Because if you do, I’ll.. I'll be alone.” His voice was small at the end of the sentence.Truth be told, as much as Terry didn’t want to leave Korvo and Yumyulack, he was more scared of being alone in that vast nothingness. “If you fix the ship, I won’t see you or Yumyulack ever again and I’ll be alone out there. I don’t want to leave.” 

Korvo understood loneliness, but he never saw loneliness in the cosmos, not like Terry had. He didn’t know what to say because he also didn’t want Terry to leave either. As a socially advanced society, they had to value everything else other than themselves. There was no room for selfishness. 

“I’ll let you fix the ship,” Terry started, “if you come with me.” 

His eyes widened. It was illegal to bring an unauthorized passenger, but Korvo wasn’t one for following rules, not anymore. This was his dream, his way out, everything he ever hoped for. He felt Terry’s hand loosen as he let go of him. Korvo didn’t know what to answer. He spent so much time building his life on the station. He didn’t know about space exploration because he was declined to go, and therefore declined to take the appropriate classes. Could he really survive out in space?

He never answers Terry, instead he gets up, cancels protocol and leaves the ship, finding his way back to his and Yumyulack’s room. Terry doesn't go after him. Korvo was kinda hoping he would. 

Terry goes to the place where the drinks were good and made him feel less. Not much went through his mind, except for the fact that Korvo basically rejected going to space with him. There’s no other reason he would walk out like that. It would’ve been perfect too. Two friends hanging out in space with two kids, something Terry always wanted but never got. He wanted this life with Terri, but now he’s reconsidering. Hilda, the granny bartender, smiles when she sees Terry. "Oh, you're Korvo's friend." She says with her old lady voice. 

He's not so sure if he's Korvo's friend anymore. "Yeah."

"How are you this morning?" She asked wiping down the glass cups and putting them in the cabinet underneath the counter. 

"I could be better." He says, taking a seat.

"Would you like the same as last time?" She smiles with her eyes. 

"Yeah, that would be nice." She prepares a drink for him and he downs it, forgetting how pungent the flavor was. It'll be over in a few seconds and he'd be met with heaven on his tongue. 

Solving his problems without alcohol is the mature approach to every situation. It's a sensible thing to do. It's what Terri would do. Terry doesn't even know why he feels so tormented by Korvo in the first place. He didn't say no, and if he did, then he can't fix the ship. Terry wouldn’t let him. But what power did Terry have over him? Terry was beginning to regret what he said. Giving Korvo an ultimatum like that was a bad move. He might not even want to be Terry's friend anymore. Now that might be worse than being in space alone. Imbibing another glass, he coughs up the bad taste and sulks. 

He imagined Terri sitting beside him, having a fruity drink while talking about Pupa anatomy and coding. She would poke at him, asking, "are you paying attention?" every few minutes because she knows he would zone out about any topic. 

Terry would lie and say, "Yeah, babe. I'm listening." Then go back to undressing her with his eyes. That thought was a lot better than thinking about his responsibilities, which is why he's here. 

What would Terri do? She was the smart one in the relationship and she gave great advice, even if it meant sacrificing her own happiness to help a friend. She was selfless, and Terry wasn’t. He didn’t know if he pitied her or admired her for this. If she were here, she’d probably scold Terry for suggesting running away together without further notice. Better yet, she would scold Terry for not thinking about Korvo and what he thought about all this. She was good at being empathetic, something Terry fails at doing. 

Before he knew it, he had five glasses and his face felt hot. He wondered why Korvo had to be so complicated. He said he wanted to evacuate. When given the opportunity, he has to think about it? What is there to think about? They get to run away together. And Terry liked Korvo, he was boring sometimes but he was also naive enough to fall for silly pranks. 

Terry thought about Korvo kissing him last night and his reaction to it. If he didn't slap Korvo, he probably would've kissed him back. He could've sworn he heard Korvo say he loved him. There's no way Korvo would say that, or feel that way, right? They were just friends. Korvo wouldn't engage in a serious relationship without talking about it, right? Now that he thinks about it, Terry doesn't know much about Korvo, except for the fact that he had a replicant illegally and an ex-lifemate. Korvo never talked about his lifemate, then again, neither did Terry. 

The thought of his lifemate must've hurt him enough to stay silent about it. Does Yumyulack know? He was unsure. He wonders what kind of person Korvo's lifemate was. Ex. He specifically said ex. So, they're separated or Korvo is just saying that because he died on Shlorp, maybe he was an evacuee? Why does he care so much about Korvo's lifemate anyway? His own lifemate was perfect in every way possible, but she wasn't perfect enough for Terry to give up his life with. He's a coward. Even now, he's still a coward, being unable to face flying into space alone. 

What is wrong with him? Nobody ever finds the answer to the wrong things about themselves. Still, it would be nice to know. 

Terry held onto the walls while the corridor spins, tipping him to the side. The floor is on the ceiling and he's inside out. Recognizing the number on the door to his room, he messes with the lock and stumbles in, falling to the floor. "Ow." He groans almost about to cry. 

"Terry, are you okay?" Korvo came over to help him up off the floor. He didn't know Korvo was visiting him today. Wait, he was mad at Terry that's why he stormed off. 

"What are you d-doing here?" He slurred his and barely kept his eyes open.

"Are you drunk?" Korvo sounded mad again. 

"Nuh." Terry shook his head childishly. "No, thank you."

"It's in the middle of the day." Korvo pulled Terry up to his legs. 

_Hypocrite_. "You drink in the mid-middle of the day too." He let's Korvo drag him into his room, not really giving the effort to move himself. 

"It's cooler when I do it." Korvo practically carries Terry into the room and throws him onto the medicine scented bed. He falls face first into the cushions.

Taking a whiff, he groans. "You made my bed smell like old people." His voice was muffled in the sheets. 

"Well, it's your fault for bringing me here."

Terry quickly got up, making the room even more dizzier than before. "How did you know?" 

"Yumyulack told me."

"That snitch!" Terry laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling and seeing Korvo in his peripherals. The flower patterns danced for him, making him think about the kiss again. "Why'd you kiss me?" 

"What do you mean?"

"You kissed me last night and- and I slapped you." Korvo doesn't even remember doing that. What else did he do when he was out? "You told me you loved me, but it might be Terri's ghost, so I don't know." 

"I don't remember doing those things, but if I did- like you said, I'm sorry." 

Terry choked on his laughter. "Don't be sorry. I should be sorry… for wanting more… of it." He covered his face, tears threatened to spill. "I'm a bad person!" 

Korvo pulled him into a sitting position. "Look at me, you're not a bad person."

The tears fall from his face as the guilt consumes him. "Yes, I am! I left my replicant, I left Terri, and the worst part of-of it all, I cheated on her with you. I'm a bad person." He rests his head on Korvo's shoulder and sobs. The cheating wasn’t the worst part, it was falling for Korvo, and Terry didn’t want to say it because if he did it would’ve been real and he’d lose Terri. 

Korvo places a hand on Terry's back, stroking to soothe his distress. If he had known this bothered him so much, he would've just stayed as strangers. Sure, Korvo wouldn't get to see Terry laugh or talk about useless facts, but he would be happy. There was only one thing to do now. "Terry, I can't go with you." 

He pushed himself off of Korvo, looking him in the eyes. "What? W-why not? You have to." Terry’s chest began to sting, like being cut with a blade from the person you love.

"My life would be better here." Korvo lied, averting his eyes. 

"Don't leave me. I need you." He begged. Those were words Korvo never heard before. After being left behind and forgotten for so long, it melted his heart. It was hard to say no. 

Korvo bite his lip. "I think it would be best if we weren't friends anymore." 

The one thing he feared more than being alone was right in his face. "Y-you don't mean that, right?" The blue alien was about to turn away, but Terry grabbed onto his arm, holding him in place. "Korvo?" His voice cracked. 

His hands slipped from Terry's grasp. With a small utter of apology, he escaped the room, leaving the green guy alone. 

Korvo was originally going to tell Terry that he would join him on his journey but seeing how much it pained him, he changed his mind. If it eased Terry, knowing that the person he cheated on Terri with wasn't there, then he would gladly give up his freedom. Korvo hated how selfless he was.


	4. Chapter 4

Within the months where Korvo kept his distance from his former friend, Terry would try to rekindle their friendship through means of apologies or asking him to go to lunch together, and he even jokingly bought flowers and placed them in the ship, knowing that Korvo would see them. He’d place a card in the bouquet and it would have various forms of apology, ‘I’m sorry, take me back,’ ‘We can talk about this,’ ‘I’m not paying for child support,’ and ‘I sowwy.’ Sometimes, Terry would show up with flower in his hands and cocaine snacks, like it was prom. The apologies became sillier and obnoxious by the second. 

Yumyulack still spoke to Terry and was his inside man. He'd ask Yumyulack if Korvo was enough rest or if he ate well, or if he mentioned Terry at all. To his dismay, Korvo never mentioned him. 

Terry tried to show Korvo his replicant sprouting from the dirt, but he would decline going to Terry's room. This was tough. He used other methods of getting Korvo to pay attention to him, like making up a stupid dance for him and pranking him, only for Korvo to continously ignore him. There was one time where he hurt himself, but to no avail, Korvo still didn't give him attention. Terry wasn’t sure if he was trying to get Korvo to talk to him or fall in love with him. 

There was only one more thing to fix on the ship and then after that Terry had to leave. He didn't have enough time to make Korvo want to be his friend again.

There was a solution that only seemed to piss Korvo off. Terry would purposefully mess up the controls and break them. He would purposefully spill liquids on them. He pulled the plug for the lavatic reactor and made it spill everywhere, damaging all the organic materials outside the ship. It still didn't work. For a moment, it seemed Korvo would be mad enough to yell at Terry, but he would hold his tongue then fix it without saying a word. 

It made Terry cry that his efforts were going unnoticed. He had cried in front of Korvo to see if he would look at him. It almost worked, but Korvo wasn’t looking at him, he was looking at the thing he needed behind him. It angered Terry seeing Korvo so stubborn about this, so he climbed on his back while he would work. "Talk to me!" He would say.

Today, Korvo was working on fixing Aisha, the AI, and Terry had enough. "Korvo." He called. Korvo doesn't turn his head, it makes Terry feel like a ghost. "Korvo, please come with me. I can't do this without you. I don't know anything about ship stuff and- and if you don't come with me, I'll die out there all sad and alone." This almost never works on him, but Terry does it anyway just in case it happens to work one time, and pulls on Korvo's heart strings. 

Korvo doesn't respond and continues to type on Aisha pad, calibrating her. Terry goes over and grabs onto Korvo's hands, holding them. He doesn't look at Terry. 

"Korvo, please." He begged. 

It was false to say that the begging didn't pull on Korvo's heart because it did. Not because he's sick and twisted at seeing Terry desperate for his attention, but because everytime he heard it he would be tempted to change his mind. He tried extra hard to avoid making eye contact with Terry, because if he didn’t he would just give in and say yes. 

"I'll do anything." _Don't say that._

Pulling his hands away from Terry's, Korvo went back to typing on the computer. The green alien went behind Korvo, wrapping his arms around his waist, pressing his body against him. Korvo licked his dry lips and gulped as his heart thumped faster in his chest. _Don't do that._

"I'll do anything." Terry repeated, quieter this time. His cool breath brushing against Korvo's neck. _Anything than to be alone in the void._

Terry’s hand reached over at the buttons of Korvo’s robe, popping one off. Reaching down to unbutton another, his hand was caught by him. He moved from Terry's embrace and gave him a small smile, then he left the room in the ship. He could hear the faint footsteps against the metal floors treading away then the even fainter sound of the glass door closing. 

Korvo stormed into Hilda's bar, past the counter, through the 'employees only' door, and up into her room. He hid away in the guest room, tucking his knees up to his chest and hugging them. There's no way he could handle Terry leaving. He feels realer than any dream he's ever had. Maybe that's why Korvo is so attracted to him, because he's free and Korvo isn't, not really. Why did it hurt so much when Terry hugged him from behind. 

It made no sense, nothing made sense and Korvo cried because of this. The stars didn't have the answers this time, they didn't tell him about his aspirations, they didn't sing to him. All these things were just Korvo's feelings that he doesn't know how to handle. He doesn't want to die on the station and he knew that was going to happen eventually. But Terry, he cared about him and his well-being.

Pity. There was pity in the room. Not for himself but for the deceased lifemate. If only she took his place then maybe things would've been a lot better. They would be happy together, she would have the opportunity to explore space together, and terraform a planet to be their new homeworld. She would be living Korvo's dream, she would be loving Terry, like he would. 

It's been getting harder to ignore his feelings. Every prank that Terry would do, Korvo wanted to smile and laugh with him and Yumyulack. Every comment that Terry would make that was idiotic has its charm. Whenever Terry smiled, he had to pretend it didn't phase him. The flowers Terry would buy for him, he hesitantly threw them in the burner along with those silly message cards. And that god awful dance Terry did, made Korvo want to cringe and laugh at the same time. No one had ever given him this much attention before, nor have they put so much effort into getting his attention. Whoever Terry's lifemate was must've been so lucky.

After he fixes Aisha, then Terry would be gone. It would be a good idea to have Terry bring Yumyulack with him so he could at least see the stars. Korvo doesn't know if Yumyulack would be brave enough to leave him behind. It's for the best. It always has been. 

On his way to the ship, Korvo sees Yumyulack and Terry whispering amongst themselves, then the younger alien finishes their conversation with a "got it." 

He comes over to Korvo, all casually. "Korvo, if you don't go with Terry, then I'm going with him." 

"You are?" Korvo asked. "That's perfect, I was gonna ask Terry to take you along." 

"What?" Terry shouted. 

"But dad-" 

"So, it's settled then!" Korvo says enthusiastically, clasping his hands together and trying to keep himself from breaking down. Both of the shlorpians tried to reason with Korvo, but he just entered the ship. "I gotta work now, bye." He shuts the door to the ship and locks it. Taking a moment to let out a shaky breath, he makes his way into the corridor to Aisha's control room. Shutting the door behind him, he punches the metal door, breaking his hand in the process as the blood splatter on the gray. Korvo rested his head against the metal, sobbing quietly to himself and holding his broken hand. 

After the sad parade and the regeneration of his broken hand, he gathered himself together and wiped down the blue splatter with the underside of his robe until it was spotless. He went to the AI and continued to type in her codes. 

* * *

Terry stood outside of the ship. He had told Yumyulack that he'll take care of this and convince Korvo to come along too. Korvo still hasn't left the ship and it was past midnight. He wondered if he was asleep in there. It's not the most comfortable place to sleep, then again has Korvo ever slept in a comfortable place before. He has, in Terry's arms.

"Korvo…" His head was against the metal as he groaned. Terry’s hand was bruised from the continuous knocking on the metal, and whenever it healed up he’d bruise it again. "Open the door." 

An idea popped into his head. He could just break in. There's no emergency lockdown on it, but it might trigger the alarm. Whatever. He was willing to take that chance. Grabbing a crowbar off the tool pushcart, he attempted to wedge the door open. It didn't go through, but the door opened regardless and Korvo was on the other side with his robe open. 

They stare at each other for a moment. Terry threw himself in the ship before Korvo could close it again. He lands in Korvo's arms as the door shut behind him. He pushed Terry off of him. "Just stop, okay!" He shouts at the green alien. "I don't want to go with you."

Terry came closer to Korvo, his eyes narrowed down at the shorter man as he brushed a finger over his cheek. "Then, why are you crying?" 

Korvo flinched away, touching his face to find the wetness Terry was talking about. Turning away, he wipes the tears. "I'm not." His voice indicated otherwise. He sniffled a few times before preparing himself to say his next thing. "I want you to take Yumyulack." 

"Korvo-" 

"I don't want him to stay here forever." He says. "Eventually, he'll have to grow up and explore space like I said he would-"

"Why can't you come?" Terry was serious and Korvo didn't like that look in his eyes. He was fun, loving, playful, relaxed, not serious. 

"You know why."

"I don't, actually. You didn't give me a good enough reason. I know you don't believe your life is better here if you wanted me to take Yumyulack. " Korvo hated this. He hated how easily Terry could catch on and read him like a book. He hated crying in front of him and he hated his feelings. He hated wanting to go to space with him. He hated how much he cares about him. The worst part of it all is- "So, why-"

"Because I'm not your lifemate!" He hated that he wasn't Terry's lifemate. "A- are you happy now? I thought it would be better if I wasn't there because you regret what happened between us." He was crying again. "I wanted to make it easier on y-"

Terry doesn't let him finish as he shuts the blue guy up with his lips. Korvo melted into the kiss while Terry pulled him closer by the waist. The taller alien doesn't give him a chance to breathe, slipping his tongue in and exploring Korvo's mouth. Before, when they kissed, it wasn't slow and they barely took the time to memorize the taste of the other's tongue. Usually it was laced with alcohol or drugs. This time was different. This time they wanted to remember.

The blue gentle arms find their way around Terry's neck. "Terry-" Korvo gasps lightly, breathing in the green's air, only to have it be taken away again. 

He moves from Korvo's lips to his cheek, planting trails of tender kisses all the way down to his neck. "I said I'd do anything." Terry whispered into the crane of Korvo's neck, his breath sending shivers down the blue's spine. The familiar hands snaked their way under Korvo's shirt, touching the smalls of his back. 

With the other hand, Terry rubbed Korvo's sex with his finger through the pants. Each friction made him grow increasing warmer and wetter. They stumbled back onto the sides of the ship's wall where there were no controls, which Korvo was thankful for because he didn't want to break anything right after he just finished fixing the entirety of the cruiser. Terry caught his lips again, licking them as he moved his hand higher, feeling the ridges between the ribs. Korvo wanted to touch him too. 

As Korvo slithered his hands to Terry's pants, he beat him to it. Terry stroked Korvo's length, teasing it then brushed the tip of his finger over the opening of his hole. A soft sigh snuck its way out between Korvo's teeth. He reached over to touch his lover, but Terry grabs into his hand, gently pinning it to the wall. Korvo could easily break out of his grasp, but wanted this too much to care about seeming weak. 

Terry continued to pleasure Korvo with only his fingers, something that only happens when it's from Korvo's own hands. No one, not his ex-lifemate or Vyc, ever touched him like this. He spreads his leg, unaware of his need for Terry to touch him more, and hooking a leg around his lover's thigh. 

It became harder to breathe with Terry's mouth burning Korvo's lips and filling his senses with only him. Terry finally stopped teasing the opening and stuck a finger in, massaging the god spot. Korvo gasped as he felt Terry smile in their kiss. The leg hooked around Terry's thigh locked up as Korvo was about to reach his first orgasm. He hugged Terry tightly, afraid that he might torture him and pull away when he really needed this. 

Korvo took tiny gasps of air in between the kisses. "Terry…" He chokes, feeling the pressure built up and waiting for release. With one flick of the finger, the motion sent Korvo over the edge, crying out his pleasures as he trembled under Terry's touch.

Terry held Korvo up as he continued to let him ride out his orgasm. He knew he was done when he finally went limb and shivered from the sudden coolness of the ship. Korvo brought himself up, pulling himself together with dark blue across his face. He glanced at Terry for a moment, eyes still hazy from post-climax and his legs still shaky. 

They found themselves on the floor of the main deck, clothes scattered beneath them and a slight creak in the ship as they made love. Their body's were flushed together with Korvo topping this time and Terry was beneath him. His thighs spread open to let more of Korvo in, his leg over the thigh and his knee to Korvo's side. The blue alien thrusts fast and hard while Terry tries to cover his blushing face with a hand. Korvo held onto Terry's hand while he drove into him. 

"I wanna see you." He breathes.

Terry interlocked his fingers with Korvo, holding it tight as his lover fucked him. The small sighs and gasps filled the ship as Terry's toes began to curl. He bit his lip. There was that one spot that was heaven sent and Korvo was hitting it just perfectly. His legs were starting to tense up and he began to close them because of how close he was. Korvo spread Terry's thighs, feeling the insides tightening up as he kept moving. 

Korvo wondered what Terry would do if he stopped. So he did. Terry immediately opened his eyes, sighing aggressively as he did it. "Wh- why did you stop?" 

He answered by leaning down to kiss Terry and he slammed into him, earning a loud squeal from his love. Terry moaned Korvo's name into his mouth while he thrusted hard into him again. The pulsing of his loins came again as Terry began to grind against Korvo, raking at his back as he did so. The grinding became irregular and Terry voiced incoherent sounds along with words Korvo can't quite articulate. Terry came with a satisfying movement of his hips, which in turn, made Korvo reach his own climax.

They took a moment to breath. Korvo looks down at Terry's glistening body as his chest rises and falls at the same speed as Korvo's. He plants a kiss on Terry's face and takes the spot next to him on the floor. They laid together, staring at the darkness of the ceiling in the ship and let the haze of sexy time wash over them. 

Korvo was the one to break the silence, holding his hands for comfort. The thought was bothering him again. "I can't replace your lifemate."

He makes a noise of discontentment and turns, resting on an elbow. "Listen, man, you’re not replacing her. I’m just... moving on. As much as I loved Terri, I didn't stay for her or thought to bring her. I wanted to stay with you, or even better, I want you to come with me. " Terry explained. "Just because I had a lifemate doesn't mean you can't be important to me too." He turned to look at Korvo who was looking at him back. 

Korvo's lips formed a thin line. He didn't know Terry thought he was important enough to stay behind with. It was flattering and sweet, and it made him begin to believe in love again. 

* * *

Perhaps the worst part about packing was hiding all the shit from the rest of the crew so they can't tell. Of course, Shlorpians aren't known to be greedy bastards, but there was no one with authority to execute them for selfish behaviors. There's a reason a selected few could sign up for evac or they were chosen by the superiors. Those who leave are just the lucky ones who get to breathe a bit longer than the ones who stay. In the end, they all die. 

If the rest of the crew find out Korvo was eloping with Terry, they'd want to come to. The ship isn't designed for extra passengers. 

Terry, who was carrying the pupa, walked down the hall with Korvo, who pretended to help him pack his belongings to the ship. They had to cover the replicant in the pot so the crew members didn't see Terry's atrocity. He was worried it might get too dark for the little bud. Korvo assured him that the seedling's sight hasn't grown yet to be able to see. 

"I know, because it's dark in there." Terry retorted, not quite understanding what Korvo meant.

The doctor spots the two aliens together down the hall. He walks by them holding a document to his face to avoid eye contact. Korvo's eyes followed the doctor and he wondered why he was being so strange. "What's that all about?"

Terry paused for a moment and then let out a silly laugh. "I almost forgot- I told him that we're together." 

Korvo blushed. _Together._ As a unit. Not alone. They haven't been _together_ for that long. Terry's been with Korvo ever since they confront their issues, so how could he have told the doctor- "When was this?"

"When you were in the medical center and you were passed out. Doc came in, said, 'Korvo's mine'. So we fought to the death and now you're mine." Terry explained nonchalantly about this blatant lie. 

"What's the real story?" Korvo crossed his arms. 

"He was being creepy and I did you a favor. Plus, I mentioned something about a secret and it got him to shut up."

"Oh, you mean how he didn't finish all of his degrees to become a doctor?" He says. 

"What!" Terry just watches as Korvo carries the box down to the ship management room. "He did surgery on you. You could've died!" 

"That would've been unfortunate." He brought the box into the ship and took out the potted replicant. 

"How are you not angry about this?" 

"I was, but you know, working as a repair guy isn't the safest job, and he saved my life a few times." Korvo shrugged, examining the replicant in the pot to see if there's any damage.

The way that Korvo said, 'he saved my life', made Terry uneasy, like he was scared that the doctor might've changed Korvo's mind about going with him. Terry was no doctor. In fact, when it came down to it, Terry wasn't anything. He cheated his way to the top. He was a cheater. 

Then again, so was the doctor. 

Yumyulack showed up to bring the very little things he and Korvo owned. Korvo figured it wasn't too heavy for the kid since they didn't have much. Yumyulack stole a few things that he liked. Instead of earning the Shlorp coins, he pickpocketed the elderly. It's not like they'll be needing it since they'll probably die before the station ever leaves the solar system. 

Korvo and Terry made a stop by Hilda's bar. The red wallpaper still reflected the light hanging on the walls. The music was different but was still old and vintage, like Korvo remembered it when he first showed up to the bar. He never tells her that he's leaving forever. He just says, "I won't be back for a long time." 

The old lady took it as, 'Korvo's finally getting his life together and stopped being an alcoholic.' 

They order one last drink. Korvo brought him to the small guest room in Hilda's home. He introduced Chartreuse, the planet, to Terry, even though he felt silly for introducing a planet to a person as if it was an actual person. Terry thought it looked more like lime. 

They sat there for a while, looking at the stars from the window. "I've never seen space like this before." Terry utters, watching the stars twinkle in the distance as some of the distant planets would pass by. He never bothered to look up, because the only star that he saw was always in front of him. Turning to Korvo, who was gazing at the starry abyss, the reflection of the green light hits him just perfectly, and Terry thinks that he might've found his new star.

"We should go." Korvo says, eyes still fixated on the window. He was going to miss this place. It was his little safe haven, a place where he felt closer to the unknown and now he doesn't need this anymore. 

They headed for the ship and checked all that they needed before leaving. Yumyulack was watching Terry's replicant grow from the soil. Korvo tells Terry to watch Yumyulack while he leaves for a minute. That minute became an hour and he was back. 

Terry didn't question what Korvo did while he was gone because he figured he needed to splash in some water before they head for their travels. They sat in the ship for a good two minutes until Korvo realized Terry doesn't know how to work the radio signal. He had to signal to the station radio to open the doors. 

Korvo told Terry exactly what to say, and he followed the instructions before leaving the station. When the gates opened and the ship was ready to leave. Korvo took the mic from Terry and said "Later, suckers!" 

Then they were in space. 

Korvo was silent for a long time, just breathing in the view and so was Terry. When he first launched out of Shlorp, he wasn't in space long enough to enjoy the soaring. Now he took the time to actually see the stars and it was perfect. 

Hours go by and it would be approximately past midnight on Shlorp. Yumyulack was asleep in the spare room while the replicant was in the plant room. He wanted to bring the pot in the room with him so he could talk to it about gambling, but Korvo decided against it because it still needed to develop.

Korvo got up for a moment while Terry zoned out looking at the asteroids passing by. He returned with a bottle of the alcoholic beverage he favors so much. Opening the cap, he takes the first swing then hands it to Terry. 

He stares at the bottle then to Korvo, realizing it's The Drink. He grabs it and takes a sip. When the bitterness dies down, Terry relaxes in his seat and hands the bottle back. "You know," He starts. "I never got to thank the person that saved me from the crash." 

Korvo held the bottle to his lips, imbibing the beverage with a small smile painted on his lips. "You just did." 


End file.
